Active Conservation [of Gorillas] Involves Simply Going

There Are Times When One Cannot Accept Facts For Fear Of Shattering One's Being. As I Listened To Ian's News, All Of Digit's Life, Since My First Meeting With Him As A Playful Little Ball Of Black Fluff Ten Years Earlier, Passed Through My Mind. From That Moment On, I Came To Live Within An Insulated Part Of Myself.

I Had This Great Urge... I Had It The Day I Was Born. Some May Call It Destiny. My Parents And Friends Called It Dismaying.

I Shall Never Forget My First Encounter With Gorillas. Sound Preceded Sight. Odor Preceded Sound In The Form Of An Overwhelming, Musky-barnyard, Humanlike Scent. The Air Was Suddenly Rent By A High-pitched Series Of Screams Followed By The Rhythmic Rondo Of Sharp Pok-pok Chestbeats From A Great Silverbacked Male Obscured Behind What Seemed An Impenetrable Wall Of Vegetation.

[my] Excursions Provided A Unique Opportunity For Observing [the Gorillas' Behavior] In Their Natural Habitat... Then, All Too Soon, The Infants Were Demanded For Their Trip To The Zoo. ... [h]appily The Babies Did Not Know They Would Never See Their Mountain Home Again

One Of The Basic Steps In Saving A Threatened Species Is To Learn More About It: Its Diet, Its Mating And Reproductive Processes, Its Range Patterns, Its Social Behavior.