Are gorillas afraid of water?

Like the other apes and humans, gorillas cannot swim naturally, therefore they avoid large bodies of water and rivers. However, in zoos and sometimes even in the wild, young and adult animals like to play with water. In search of food they sometimes wade through swamps on two legs with the water reaching up to their waist.

If gorillas are surprised by a rain shower, they simply stay motionless and wait for the rain to finish. If there is a cave or a similar shelter close by, they will sit underneath, but they will never use large leaves or branches to cover themselves, which is what bonobos and orang-utans occasionally do.