This has literally never been seen before. As Futura Sciences reported, for the very first time, primates have been filmed singing in an animal sanctuary in Uganda (East Africa), while munching on leaves, twigs and various fruits. The American production team managed to capture this close-up video of wild gorillas thanks to an ‘animatronic’, a fake robotic animal which can be remotely controlled from a distance and the footage is impressive, to say the least.
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Through sound recordings that were obtained during a study that was carried out in Congo in 2016, it has already been proven that great apes sometimes sing among themselves. However, in this video, we can actually see the gorillas singing along while feeding. The male gorillas seemed to sing louder since they were enjoying their meal. As well as the melody, we can also hear the animals passing gas in the video!
A technologically advanced robot
This video was filmed by a team of filmmakers from John Downer Productions after they sent a very realistic baby gorilla to infiltrate their enclosure. Scientists believe an adult gorilla may have been considered too great a threat to the real primates. They put a lot of detail and care into creating the animal's eyes, where the camera was, as the gaze is extremely important for wild gorillas. They learn a lot about each other by simply maintaining eye contact.
Therefore, the little robot was able to look away if necessary in order to show its respect for the older gorillas, and consequently promote its integration into the family. It could also bang on its chest which, as you can see in the video below (2’15), a real baby gorilla found quite amusing. A truly unique video that we will never tire of watching.
