RIP HARAMBE :(

[HairOfTheDog]

It is curious how he drug the boy however. I don't think a gorilla would do that with his own offspring....so those saying he was watching out for him is interesting to me.

To me, it looked like Harambe was standing guard over the boy and wanted to move him away from the chaos of the onlookers. I don't doubt that the gorilla was confused by a foreign element in its environment and all the screaming just outside, nor that the boy was at risk of being hurt or killed. But, I'm no expert and can't know what the gorilla was thinking, of course.

I have read different analyses by different animal experts; it doesn't appear they can know for sure what would have happened either - too many variables.

Here's yet another expert opinion:

Snip
University of New England animal behaviour expert Gisela Kaplan told news.com.au she does not believe the boy was in any real danger.

“Usually a child is not a threat,” said Professor Kaplan, who is the author of Orang-utans in Borneo.

“The silverback would’ve understood that it was a defenceless small child. They would not normally attack, they are not an agressive species (and) in the wild I’m certain the boy wouldn’t have been killed.”

“I can tell you silverbacks are protectors of their group,” she said. “If there’s an unusual thing happening, (Harambe) needs to investigate. The fact that he went over to the child is absolutely natural behaviour but it doesn't mean he was aggressive.

“If he was going to attack he would’ve warned him first. The first thing they do is charge and beat their chests and as far as I know that didn’t happen.”

Prof Kaplan said Harambe likely moved the boy away from the screaming crowd of people because of the noise. “Screaming is only used in extreme situations with primates and it would’ve only raised stress levels. I think it’s wrong that they shot it dead but I wasn’t there so it’s hard to be too critical.”

She said Harambe’s family would be grieving. “The death will have a vast impact on the entire troop. They’re like human families, you can’t replace Harambe with another male. There’s a sense of love and bonding and the entire troop will be destroyed.”

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/technol...66ae621d67