Gorillas’ drunken antics caught on camera
Don’t you hate it when other people take pictures of you drunk and then post them on Facebook? Well, spare a thought for a group of mountain gorillas whose antics binge-drinking on boozy bamboo sap have been splashed all over the internet.
Wildlife photographer Andy Rouse snapped the astonishing pictures of the paralytic primates during a field trip to the Virunga Mountains of Rwanda in central Africa.
“I had heard they sometimes get like this, but I had never actually seen it. It was just like any family party when one or two members have a little bit too much to drink,” Rouse told the Daily Mail.
Rouse said the leader of the group, a 30-stone silverback gorilla called Kwitonda, and two younger gorillas were “completely out of it.”
“Some were running round cackling to each other, others were going mad swinging through the trees, some were just lying on the ground in an inebriated state. Normally, they eat handfuls of other vegetation, like a sort of salad to soak up the sap, but this time they were just enjoying a drink.”
It was unclear whether the gorillas had stopped for a kebab on the way home.
But Rouse said the apes had been subdued when he returned the next day, apparently “nursing gorilla-sized hangovers.”
Writing in his blog, Rouse said he hoped the photos would help raise awareness about the plight of the highly endangered great apes, which can also be found in the conflict-stricken Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.
“Of course there will be those detractors, or screaming greenies, that will think I should not have published these images. I did think long and hard about it and came to the conclusion that any publicity for an endangered species is a good one,” Rouse said.
“Mountain gorillas are down to their last 700 in the wild and whilst the numbers have stabilised and perhaps even increased, we must never be complacent else we will lose this great ape.
“To be honest as well, I am only showing what I saw, and in hindsight I would have got a much better set of pictures had I not been laughing so much!!!”
Rouse will be speaking and showing more photos of his trip in a talk at London’s Millfield Arts Centre on Wednesday 25 March. He will also be leading another expedition to see the gorillas in March 2010. See www.worldprimatesafaris.com for details.