gorillas

Thor Hanson will read from his book The Impenetrable Forest and give a multimedia presentation at 7 pm Thursday, Nov. 20, 182 Lillis Hall, UO.

Hanson has tales from humorous anecdotes of machete-stealing gorillas to sad stories of the tragedy of HIV/AIDs in Uganda

You can read the review in tomorrow's EW but I wanted to post this in advance, since the talk is the same night the paper comes out.

Gorilla aficionados, Peace Corps wanna-bes, conservationists, eco-tourists and the Africa interested this is the talk for you.

Just in time for Valentines Day, Science Daily has come out with this exciting news: A scientist has taken photos of gorillas having sex, face-to-face.

Apparently MOST gorillas do it in the way that is commonly called "doggie style" but which scientists refer to as the "dorso-ventral position."

Thomas Breuer, lead author of the gorilla study that published this photograph, comments: "It is also interesting that this same adult female has been noted for innovative behaviors before."

Yup, "innovative behaviors." Back in 2005 the gorilla, nicknamed Leah, was documented using tools, namely a stick to test the depth of a pool of water before she went in. Leah is no average gorilla.

The article notes that "few primates mate in a face-to-face position, known technically as ventro-ventral copulation." This position, it would seem, is very rare in the wild, as this is the FIRST EVER photography done of face-to-face gorilla sex in nature (it's been documented in zoos; I'm not sure what that says about zoos and sex).

These particular gorillas — western lowland gorillas — are listed at critically endangered. Which makes this a photo of critically endangered gorilla sex.

To help the critically endangered western lowland gorilla (and provide more funding for photos of the gorillas being "innovative") go to the Wildlife Conservation Fund's website: http://www.wcs.org/

Happy Valentines.