Selfie as a trend is no more limited to human beings now, even animals have been seen getting obsessed with the concept ! For the first time, the instance is found in the Virunga National Park, of Congo recently. Ndakazi and Ndeze, two female gorillas of the park, are showing humans everywhere how to pose for a selfie properly.
Virunga National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo which shelters mountain gorillas and many endangered species.
Recently, Mathieu Shamavu, a full-time ranger of the park successfully snapped a quick photo of himself with Ndakazi and Ndeze standing perfectly aligned in the background like humans.
Answering the question – how they have learned the trick, the deputy director of Virunga, Mburanumwe told that the pair lost their mothers at an early age of 4, in July 2007. There after they were shifted to the Senkwekwe Center, an enclosed sanctuary located at the Park’s headquarters in Rumangabo, for nourishment. Since both of them grew up amid human caretakers, standing on their hind legs can be a learned behavior.
Posting the click on social media, the park captioned – “Those gorilla gals are always acting cheeky so this was the perfect shot of their true personalities and it’s of no wonder to see these girls on their two feet either, because most primates are comfortable walking upright (bipedalism) for short bursts of time.”
But, according to Mburanumwe, this doesn’t happen every day. Rather standing on two legs can be their way of “learning to be human beings.” Being surprised by the behavior he further adds, “it’s very funny and curious on the part of visitors to see how a gorilla can imitate a human and stand up.”
How ever, visitors are advised – before going for a selfie they shouldn’t forget to approach a gorilla — or any animal — in the wild. Because not all of them are intetested in this game for a selfie.
Covering an area of 3,000-square-mile, the park is home to an estimated 1,000 mountain gorillas and over 600 rangers are working tirelessly to protect them.
But everything is not going smooth with the park since it is suffering a lot of violence for last few decades. It remains vulnerable to attacks by anti-government rebels and local militia groups, problems compounded by elephant poaching, hunting for bush meat, unlicensed fishing, and deforesting for charcoal.
As per reports, in 2017 following an ambush by suspected rebels, five rangers were killed in Virunga National Park. Since 1996, more than 130 park rangers have been killed in Virunga due to various reasons.
One of the social media posts of the park says, “Conserving Virunga’s amazing wildlife is a constant challenge for the Park and our work wouldn’t be possible without your support.”
Many organisations are donating funds to help the rangers and the animals they protect. Being responsible civilians we should be concerned for the natural properties of the earth and the inhabitants of it.
