Silke Jasso
A silverback gorilla in Kent, United Kingdom is YouTube’s newest “rising” star.
Videos by Rare
Ambam, who currently resides at Port Lympne Animal Park, has been caught on camera, casually walking upright in his enclosure–and the video already has over three million hits on the streaming service.
“It’s not unusual for chimps and gorillas to stand up, but they don’t usually walk very far,” Kevin Hunt, anthropologist at Indiana University and director of the Human Origins and Primate Evolution Lab, told LifeScience.com. “If this gorilla was a pet when he was young, he may have learned to walk upright to sort of copy the humans around him.”
In the footage, the animal gracefully stands up and arches his back slightly, then looks around, as if he’s asking: “Is anyone watching me?”
Uh yes, people have taken notice: Ambam might just be YouTube’s MVP (Most Viewed Primate).
