Sioux Falls Zoologists

"Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent!"

The mirror test is an experiment developed in 1970 by psychologist Gordon Gallup Jr. to determine whether an animal possesses the ability to recognize itself in a mirror. It is the primary indicator of self-awareness in non-human animals and marks entrance to the mirror stage by human children in developmental psychology. Animals that pass the mirror test are: Humans older than 18 mo, Chimpanzees, Bonobos, Orangutans, Gorillas, Bottlenose Dolphins, Orcas (Killer Whales), Elephants, and European Magpies. Others showing signs of self-awareness are Pigs, some Gibbons, Rhesus Macaques, Capuchin Monkeys, some Corvids (Crows & Ravens) and Pigeons w/training. (Sorry Kitty!)

Sioux Falls Zoologists endorse Mountain Gorilla for showing
us what daily family life is like for Mountain Gorillas.

Mountain Gorilla
Meet the Legend

Mountain Gorilla (1991) - 39 minutes
Mountain Gorilla at Amazon.com

Meet the Legend. Viewers will feel they've wandered into the heart of a gorilla family.

Named outstanding Film Documentary by the Genesis Awards (the major award for works about animal issues) and filmed in the lush mountain cloud forests of Rwanda, Africa, Mountain Gorilla provides an amazing encounter with the highly social species that is the largest of all primates.

Eat, nap, travel, eat, interact, eat: that's a typical routine for adult gorillas. But for rambunctious three-year-olds, the routine is more like play, play, play, play as they tumble, swing, wrestle and twirl. Overseeing all of the troop's activities is the proud, massive silverback male whose dominance is unchallenged - until a young silverback tries to exert his newfound sense of power.

Mountain Gorilla
Meet the Legend

Sioux Falls Zoologists endorse Mountain Gorilla for showing
us what daily family life is like for Mountain Gorillas.