Gorilla

Of all of the photographs I took at the San Diego Zoo over the holidays, this image is my favorite. While the regal lion is still my favorite wild animal, gorillas rank pretty high up on that list too. In spite of their size and brute strength, they seem to still have a gentle, kind nature. But make no mistake; gorillas are fierce animals.

While taking photographs of this gorilla, he/she looked right at me. I doubt the gorilla singled me out from the other spectators at the gorilla exhibit, but the intensity of his/her stare made me pause and stop taking photographs for a while. The glare was familiar; it's the look I often receive from irritated commuters who dislike the invasion of their personal space on crowded Metro trains in the morning. While this gorilla lives in a rather large, beautiful enclosure at the zoo, his/her look told me that it knows that it's an enclosure and we are just onlookers invading his/her space. Animals are definitely not stupid.