When Babs the gorilla died yesterday at the Brookfield Zoo in Illinois, the zookeepers invited the other gorillas to hold a wake of sorts. Apparently, gorillas sometimes "pay respects to their dead" in the wild. The dominant female of her group, Babs, 30, suffered from incurable kidney disease and was put down. From an Associated Press report:
One by one Tuesday, the gorillas filed into the Tropic World building where Babs' body lay, arms outstretched. Curator Melinda Pruett Jones called it a "gorilla wake."
Babs' 9-year-old daughter, Bana, was the first to approach the body, followed by Babs' mother, Alpha, 43. Bana sat down, held Babs' hand and stroked her mother's stomach. Then she sat down and laid her head on Babs' arm.
