yego.me
💡 Stop wasting time. Read Youtube instead of watch. Download Chrome Extension

How One Orphaned Gorilla Inspired Her to Save Hundreds More | National Geographic


2m read
·Nov 11, 2024

Hunters are going in and killing large family groups. The young orphans are left because they're too small to be sold as meat. So I'd only been here a month, and I was given the opportunity to look after an infant gorilla. The reason my whole life turned upside down and I stayed was because of KH Daniel. Apex and Africa exist in collaboration with the Cameroonian government, who can go and confiscate these orphans, and then we bring them out into MEU.

We're home to most of the primates that you find in Cameroon. When an orphan comes in to the center, there's the whole process of three-month quarantine; the correct health procedure to get them emotionally and physically strong enough. All different factors come into that, as to which family group we choose them to be introduced into. The day K. Daniel was handed to me, we'd got news that he'd been rescued in a village.

I'd never even seen a gorilla that small. I put him on me, and he grabbed on for dear life. For such a little thing, he had a grip on him. So the arms went round, the little feet gripped on, and that's where he stayed for two years. It wasn't him having to learn how to be with me; it was me having to learn how to be a gorilla so that he would understand.

I obviously did gorilla vocalization with a slight British accent. I tried my best, but I'm not G. When he got to a certain age, they learn a lot through socializing with each other and play. You know, there's only so much he's going to get from me. Is that funny?

And he's the love of my life. If somebody said to me, "Would you have given all that up for him to be back where he should be?" then I'd have happily not ever met K. Daniel, the same as I'd have never met any of these because they're not meant to be here with us. They're meant to be in the forest.

All the ones that are in our care now, they're all safe. They're not a risk anymore. Is that something to be proud of? Not really. We're a sticking plaster over the problem. The future of these individuals all lies in human hands, really. They can't change anything. They're not doing anything that ensures their survival.

If chimpanzees and gorillas disappear from wild forest areas, then we've done that as humankind. It's black and white; it's like, okay, we're either going to solve this or we're going to destroy it.

More Articles

View All
One-step multiplication equations: fractional coefficients | 6th grade | Khan Academy
Let’s say that we have the equation two-fifths x is equal to ten. How would you go about solving that? Well, you might be thinking to yourself it would be nice if we just had an x on the left-hand side instead of a two-fifths x, or if the coefficient on t…
Psychology of money part 1 | Financial goals | Financial Literacy | Khan Academy
Hi everyone! So here, what we’re going to do in this video is talk about the psychology of money. I’m going to talk about different types of things that probably all of us have fallen into at one point or another, and just think about why they’re happenin…
How to STAND OUT and get noticed
What’s up, you guys? It’s Graham here. So, I’m saying to be explaining why it’s so important to be different, to stand out, and how that can help you beat the competition. And by the way, it totally doesn’t matter what business you’re in. I don’t care if …
Surviving a Firefight | No Man Left Behind
One thing you have to understand about an SCES soldier, you know, during them six months of selection, what we do is knock them soldiers down physically, mentally, everything. And they get back up and they keep moving on, and you just keep getting over ea…
How Eating Venomous Lionfish Helps the Environment | National Geographic
Fortunately, lion fish is an invasive species that actually tastes good. On a weekly basis, I’m getting calls from a number of places throughout the country, really asking when the next time is we’re going out to go hunt lion fish, cuz they need fish for …
Having no charisma is ruining your life
Due to the internet age and people being on their phones all the time, people have lost the ability to communicate effectively with other people. And that’s probably not a secret to you at all. You’ve probably felt the effects of this in your own life. Th…