fascinating :)
I remember seeing a documentary on this gorilla, her name was binto jua (thanks wiki for reminding me :P) saving a three year old kid who had fallen inside the gorillas cage and become unconscious... it had become story of the century...
these things are pretty unusual from many standards... for example, these instincts and traits are not shown by all the animals... lions or hyenas are in fact known to kill n eat their own sometimes... even gorillas are pretty much territorial n will kill... yet y wud certain animals behave this way is something we are not certain of... do their brains recognize as much like ours? do they 'think' and is their 'thinking' similar in complexity to ours? is it because we have all risen from the same primordial genomic mixture and hence share chromosomes identical in nature?
are the influenced by surroundings similarly as we humans are?? but then if that was true, we would expect animals in wild behave very differently from those who are house trained... and yet there are instances which defy this logic...
or is there something more simpler, theological happening under our skin? that the guiding light in animals too is a soul underneath which guides them to act in a certain manner?
in any case, one thing is certain: compassion n kindness are not solemn attributes of humans... in fact of all things I have seen in my life i hold these two virtues higher than any other human attribute...and animals are certainly capable of having these...
reminds me of r own bollywood has always shown animals capable of being more humane than humans itself... they have acted as maternal/paternal/brotherly/friendly relations bw humans n animals... from kabootars acting like delivery boys to dogs/monkeys always coming in for the rescue n save the just born baby from hands of villains (Jaya pradha as maa in movie maa? anyone)...
oh n here is that link of that video
Little Boy Falls Into A Gorilla Enclosure - Watch the top videos of the week here
You can hear the shrieks of ppl who are watching this thing unfold in horror... expecting gorillas to jump up and clobber the poor kid down...n yet the miracle happens...
I suggest that they should give a new definition of 'being human' and exclude all the barbarians who do not value life and instead include these other non-humans who act more humane than most of us... world will probably be a more simpler place to live in
