On Thu, 16 Dec 1999, TempestTerriers wrote:

> The gorilla is a 100-percent vegetarian.

False.  Gorillas, like all primates, are omnivores.  They do eat
insects and other small creatures when they can get them,
although they are not hunters.

> ...He found that the gorilla is totally herbivorous and arises early in
> the morning hours to start eating.  The first thing the animal does is
> reach for food left nearby from the preceding day, put it into his
> mouth, and begin eating.

Note that a gorilla's diet is not very different from a
chimpanzee's, but the gorilla's larger size creates an
exponentially larger caloric demand.

> ...Due to their vegetarian diet and the inability of their man-like
> gastrointestinal system to digest the food, copious amounts of fecal
> material are deposited...Additionally, the gorilla's vegetarian food
> produces tremendous amounts of intestinal gas....

This is idiotic.  Man-like?  Gorillas were here first; they
should be well adapted to their food supply.

> Schaller describes the gorilla as a timid animal.  Translation of the
> African word gorilla is 'lazy man of the jungle.'...Schaller finds that
> gorillas are an endangered species not because of native hunters or
> leopards, but because of their feeble sexual instinct.

If the implication is supposed to be that the gorilla's diet
makes him timid and sexually feeble, then it's a puzzle that the
chimp, on a similar diet, has the largest testes of all primates
and is more sexually active than even Michael Audette.

> For the male gorilla to respond to an ovulating female, she must first
> engage in continually rubbing his genitals and in using all her feminie
> charms to arouse him - and even then she does not always succeed."

Maybe Schaller's proximity was a real turn-off.

Todd Moody
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