Teen Gorilla’s Cellphone Problem

Excerpts from a report out of Chicago:

Amare, a gorilla at Lincoln Park Zoo, didn’t seem to notice last week when another teenage gorilla rushed him in a show of aggression that’s common among young males seeking to figure out who’s boss.

The 415-pound gorilla was glued to a cellphone.

Not his own, of course. But the smartphone of a visitor who’d been showing Amare pictures and videos through a glass partition.

“It seemed to almost surprise Amare because his attention was very much distracted,” said Stephen Ross, director of the zoo’s Lester E. Fisher Center for the Study and Conservation of Apes.

But Amare’s cellphone distractions have grown more frequent in recent months.

“What we’re keeping an eye on here is that he doesn’t end up watching screens that the visitors are presenting him for hours on end. It’s more of a quantity issue than a quality issue,” Ross said.

The images and videos Amare watches span whatever might be on someone’s phone: selfies, family, pets, or freshly shot footage of Amare himself.