Being separated from your family and the ones you love can be difficult indeed.
Of course, this doesn’t only apply to us humans – even animals have feelings and can hate being apart from their loved ones.
Now, unfortunately, there will always be people who say that animals have no emotions; that they are just primitive creatures whose lives are about little more than eating and sleeping.
But just show them this fantastic reunion – and I think everyone will understand how much family means, even in the animal kingdom…
A few years ago, a beautiful story made headlines worldwide. In 2012, an extraordinary meeting between two silverback gorillas was captured at the Longleaf Safari Park in Wiltshire, England.
Gorilla brothers Alf, 9, and Kesho, 13, had been separated for almost three years, but in 2012, it was time for them to reunite. However, no one knew how it would play out.
“We weren’t entirely sure that the brothers would even know each other,” Mark Tye, head gorilla keeper at Longleat, told Daily Mail.
“Had they been two strangers there would have been a lot of face to face confrontation and some fighting and screaming.”
Kesho and Alf were born at Dublin zoo but were separated when Kesho turned 13. He was sent to London Zoo to participate in a breeding program – but Kesho’s time in London was not very successful. It turned out that Kesho was infertile.
But during his time in London, Kesho transformed from being a blackback gorilla to a giant silverback. Kesho lived with three females and was the natural leader of the pack.
However, something was missing in his life.
As per reports, gorillas are highly intelligent and can laugh, grieve and have “rich emotional lives”. Perhaps Kesho missed his little brother? Since gorillas share 98 percent of their DNA with humans, it is not impossible that Kesho just wanted to be with his family.
Even so, when it was decided that the brothers would be reunited at Longleat, it was not entirely clear how Kesho would react.
But it turned out to be a heartwarming meeting.
“They were touching each other through the cage that temporarily separated them and there were no acts of aggression. We put them together 24 hours later and it was like they had never been apart”.
According to Gorillafund.org, Gorillas can identify each other by the shape of their noses and body and facial structures.
”They were very animated and there was a lot of rough and tumble on the floor, but not in an aggressive way. It is quite unusual to see that sort of childlike behaviour in a silverback,” Mark Tye told Daily Mail.
So yes! Animals experience many of the same emotions people do, can communicate, form close relationships, love their young, and mourn their dead.
Watch the video below:
So wonderful. People need to realize animals have feelings and relationships too – please share this on Facebook to show everyone!
