Humans and Gorillas - what Kind of Relationship?

Everybody who studies gorillas for a long time experiences intense moments of closeness to their study "objects" that changes his or her relationship to the apes forever - even if hardly anybody has published those anecdotes.
It also happened to me when I observed gorillas in zoos. After thousands of observation hours, their behaviour was almost as familiar to me as human behaviour - but nevertheless I knew that I could never really understand how gorillas feel or think. There may be an appaling closeness but also a distance between gorillas and humans; and there has always been a very special relationship between these two species. Gorillas are regarded as beasts, gentle giants, "just animals" or almost-humans; they are neither of those and all of those at the same time.
In this issue of Gorilla Journal, several experts who know gorillas from various viewpoints write about the relationships between humans and gorillas as they have experienced them. Martha Robbins summarizes the different ways how people and gorillas get along in the wild. Juichi Yamagiwa describes his personal experiences as a researcher and a partner for conservation, and he explains how the tense relationship between the sister species in the range countries may be improved. The difficulties of the local population with wild gorillas is discussed from the Ugandan experience by James Byamukama and Stephen Asuma.
Raymond Corbey writes about the perspective of Europeans and Americans, who often see gorillas from a distance - not as living beings, but as symbols for their own fears or dreams. The next contribution by Colin Groves discusses the closeness of the genetic relationship between humans and gorillas. Richard Johnstone-Scott describes his relationship to captive gorillas. And finally, Kelly Stewart, who worked with Dian Fossey to study the mountain gorillas, explains how important it is to keep a distance and treat the apes with respect.

Angela Meder

The contributions:

Martha Robbins

Juichi Yamagiwa

James Byamukama and Stephen Asuma

Raymond Corbey

Colin Groves

Richard Johnstone-Scott

Kelly Stewart
 

Dr. Angela Meder studied the behaviour and development of captive lowland gorillas for 10 years. Today she works as a book editor. Since 1992 she has been on the Board of Directors of Berggorilla & Regenwald Direkthilfe.

Gorillas in general - overview

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