Gorilla Brains

As humans, we use the left side/hemisphere of our brain for communications skills. Well, apparently, so do gorillas. This is according to a recent study done by the University of Sussex. This is a snippet of what was posted on ScienceDaily:

"We shared 23 million years of evolution with great apes and then diverged approximately six million years ago. Gorillas have highly-complex forms of non-verbal communication. I think we are looking back at what sort of communication skills we may have once had."

Previous studies by other researchers have found that chimpanzees show a right-handed preference for manual tasks. But Dr. Sebestyn Forrester's research is the first to indicate a link between right-handedness and communication in apes.

She goes on to explain that apes use a lot of the same nonverbal communication we do: hugs, smiles, eye gazes, points, frowns and tons more are examples. Now while many won't agree with the evolution bent on this.... it is amazing how brilliant these animals are. Hopefully this will encourage people to save these intelligent creatures from almost certain extinction. To really see the dynamic social interactions between gorillas, there is a great movie, Mountain Gorilla
that really makes you see how similar their reactions and interactions are to humans'.

Of course, no topic about gorillas can finish without mention of the most famous gorilla, Koko. This ape can really communicate. If you go to her (well not REALLY her) website, you can find out more ways of protecting these amazing animals and learn more about her story.

Note: I am not affiliated with koko.org in anyway, I just think they are awesome. Also, image is courtesy of ScienceDaily.