Curiosity Turned on Its Head:
AMAZING ENCOUNTER WITH A SILVERBACK APE FAMILY
by
Robert D. Rossel, Ph.D.
“Whas’at? Whas’at?” The curiosity of children often drives us to distraction. But underneath it all, we know that is their insatiable curiosity that allows children to learn. Still to this day I remember the uninterrupted stream of questions my three-year-old grandson asked one day as we walked through the zoo.
Well – how fascinating when the tables are turned so to speak. This video shows an interesting encounter between an ape family and some humans deep in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest in Uganda. Notice how curiosity drives this encounter and the careful way the parents guide the curiosity of the baby apes as they explore, and actually groom, the hair of their human visitor.
We are indeed fortunate to have a record of this encounter. It shows two key factors in a moving and inspiring way: curiosity and family bonds that – along with language – may explain how we made the evolutionary leap into something essential about being human.
© 2012, essay, Rob Rossel, All rights reserved
Photo credit ~ Brocken Inaglory via Wikipedia and licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported.
Video upload by aleutiandream.
Pingback: ENCOUNTER WITH SILVERBACK APES « INTO THE BARDO | Our Endangered Planet and it's Wildlife.
Pingback: ENCOUNTER WITH SILVERBACK APES « INTO THE BARDO | orangutan news | Scoop.it