Slog - Comments on Allow Me to Ruin Your Day http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/allow_me_to_ruin_your_day One of the saddest stories of the week (but not as traumatizing as Allison's): BERLIN - A gorilla at a zoo in the German city of Muenster is refusing to let go of her dead baby's body several days after it died of unknown causes. Allwetter Zoo spokeswoman Ilona Zuehlke says the 3-month-old male baby died on Saturday but its 11-year-old mother continues to carry its body around. Zuehlke says such behavior is not uncommon to gorillas. Zuehlke says the mother "is mourning and must say goodbye." The mother gorilla is named Gana. I had no idea gorillas did that.... Copyright 2008 Fri, 22 Aug 2008 11:32:30 -0800 Fri, 22 Aug 2008 18:27:57 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by Walrus-Lord GORILLAS. DESTROY ALL MISPLACED APOSTROPHE'S!!!!!

]]> Walrus-Lord http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/allow_me_to_ruin_your_day#c1111145 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/allow_me_to_ruin_your_day#c1111145 Wilderness Fri, 22 Aug 2008 11:37:45 -0800 Comment by someone I don't get it. If I were a mom, I wouldn't give a shit about my baby. How do you? It's just a stupid baby. It's not like you can't get another one.

]]> someone http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/allow_me_to_ruin_your_day#c1111153 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/allow_me_to_ruin_your_day#c1111153 Wilderness Fri, 22 Aug 2008 11:44:17 -0800 Comment by Will in Seattle I remember reading a Harper and Row book, back when I was a kid, on gorillas, and they mentioned this behavior.

So it's not too surprising, if they mentioned it in a kid's book (they said she was "sad") that people have known about this for years.

]]> Will in Seattle http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/allow_me_to_ruin_your_day#c1111156 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/allow_me_to_ruin_your_day#c1111156 Wilderness Fri, 22 Aug 2008 11:48:16 -0800 Comment by Mike in MO Nice. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go jump off the Chain of Rocks Bridge.

]]> Mike in MO http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/allow_me_to_ruin_your_day#c1111161 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/allow_me_to_ruin_your_day#c1111161 Wilderness Fri, 22 Aug 2008 11:53:28 -0800 Comment by Gurldoggie Thanks for posting that. I couldn't bear to put it on my own blog and just had to share it with someone. I know it's hard for some sociopathic Sloggers, like @2, to understand, but some of us on the internets are actually caring human beings who feel both compassion and sorrow when we witness something so deeply sad like the death of a child, human or not.

To get myself past it, I checked out these photos. Way way happier. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23679187

]]> Gurldoggie http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/allow_me_to_ruin_your_day#c1111166 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/allow_me_to_ruin_your_day#c1111166 Wilderness Fri, 22 Aug 2008 11:57:31 -0800 Comment by Mahtli69 How is this any worse than injecting a corpse with embalming fluid, and then having friends and family parade by for one last view?

]]> Mahtli69 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/allow_me_to_ruin_your_day#c1111167 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/allow_me_to_ruin_your_day#c1111167 Wilderness Fri, 22 Aug 2008 11:57:45 -0800 Comment by Vince "Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better." Albert Einstein

]]> Vince http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/allow_me_to_ruin_your_day#c1111172 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/allow_me_to_ruin_your_day#c1111172 Wilderness Fri, 22 Aug 2008 12:06:37 -0800 Comment by i hate challenge day club USA @5

If you ate your feelings you could save big.

]]> i hate challenge day club USA http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/allow_me_to_ruin_your_day#c1111182 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/allow_me_to_ruin_your_day#c1111182 Wilderness Fri, 22 Aug 2008 12:12:58 -0800 Comment by Jessica This sort of behavior's been documented for years in different great apes. A chimp infant died at a sanctuary and the chimps refused to allow the caretakers to take the body away for days as the mother carried it around. AND chimps have been recorded making spears to kill and eat bush babies with.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/apegenius/

Watch your back, humans, the apes are upon us.

]]> Jessica http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/allow_me_to_ruin_your_day#c1111192 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/allow_me_to_ruin_your_day#c1111192 Wilderness Fri, 22 Aug 2008 12:16:27 -0800 Comment by Will in Seattle We've had humans keep dead relatives in their houses for years sometimes.

Heck, we've event commented on it in SLOG posts over the years.

]]> Will in Seattle http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/allow_me_to_ruin_your_day#c1111200 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/allow_me_to_ruin_your_day#c1111200 Wilderness Fri, 22 Aug 2008 12:19:20 -0800 Comment by NapoleonXIV Baby bush baby!

]]> NapoleonXIV http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/allow_me_to_ruin_your_day#c1111202 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/allow_me_to_ruin_your_day#c1111202 Wilderness Fri, 22 Aug 2008 12:19:50 -0800 Comment by NapoleonXIV Bush eating baby!

]]> NapoleonXIV http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/allow_me_to_ruin_your_day#c1111207 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/allow_me_to_ruin_your_day#c1111207 Wilderness Fri, 22 Aug 2008 12:21:19 -0800 Comment by Cascadian This is a sad story, but I don't get why this is surprising. The mother is mourning, and can't let go yet of the only reminder of her child that she has. Humans do the same thing, just in a different way. And when you're talking great apes, it's not anthropomorphizing to describe things in these terms. Aside from a relative lack of abstract thought and language, great apes are pretty much people. Or people are great apes, if you prefer.

]]> Cascadian http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/allow_me_to_ruin_your_day#c1111230 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/allow_me_to_ruin_your_day#c1111230 Wilderness Fri, 22 Aug 2008 12:33:43 -0800 Comment by kinaidos Maybe the gorilla is Christian fundamentalist and believes the corpse to be a person until it disintegrates or some such nonsense.

]]> kinaidos http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/allow_me_to_ruin_your_day#c1111232 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/allow_me_to_ruin_your_day#c1111232 Wilderness Fri, 22 Aug 2008 12:34:44 -0800 Comment by NapoleonXIV @12 should have read: Chimp eating Bush baby....

]]> NapoleonXIV http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/allow_me_to_ruin_your_day#c1111258 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/allow_me_to_ruin_your_day#c1111258 Wilderness Fri, 22 Aug 2008 12:53:27 -0800 Comment by I'm My Own Grandpa Wha - ? An 11 year-old gorilla can reproduce?

Sure puts that Texas Mormon cult thing in a whole new light...

]]> I'm My Own Grandpa http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/allow_me_to_ruin_your_day#c1111804 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/allow_me_to_ruin_your_day#c1111804 Wilderness Fri, 22 Aug 2008 16:10:24 -0800 Comment by keshmeshi @6,

Or propping it up in a corner in the living room.

]]> keshmeshi http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/allow_me_to_ruin_your_day#c1112034 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/allow_me_to_ruin_your_day#c1112034 Wilderness Fri, 22 Aug 2008 18:27:57 -0800