Zola really knows how to get a groove on.
Dallas Zoo keeper Ashley Orr took this wonderful video the 14-year-old male Western lowland gorilla splishing and splashing in a kiddie pool this week.
There is a lot more to the shenanigans than you may think.
This kind of play is actually healthy.
The blue wading pool is one of many enrichment items the gorilla keepers use to keep the apes physically and mentally stimulated. Play increases natural and healthy activities, experts say.
“Zola’s ‘dancing’ is really just a play behavior (there was no breakdance music playing in the building, we promise),” Orr explained in a blog post. “Play is a natural behavior present in a wide array of animals. In fact, the presence of play can signify an animal is content or comfortable, and it is recognized as an indicator for general welfare. It is easy for anyone to appreciate the good time that Zola is having in the pool because we recognize some of the same signs of play that we see in people.”
Here’s the entire video.
It looks like a scene from Flashdance.
Zola, of course, became quite famous a few years ago.
He became known as the breakdancing gorilla while housed at the Calgary Zoo.
That’s where he was caught on video while dancing up a storm in a puddle.
It has now been viewed close to 4 million times.
(The music was added after.)
Photos Dallas Zoo/YouTube
