Kong’s Kin at the Bronx Zoo

So what’s all this hubbub about King Kong coming to New York? Many of his kin already live very close by—on a clear day, within view of the Empire State Building where Kong takes his last stand.

On the surface, the 25-foot-tall angry giant from Skull Island doesn’t have too much in common with his gentle, family-bound descendents. Anyone who has taken a stroll through the rainforest environs of the Bronx Zoo’s Congo Gorilla Forest knows that our western lowland gorillas can usually be found thoughtfully chewing on carrots or other vegetarian snacks their keepers feed them, grooming or cuddling with each other, or playing feisty games of tag. Occasionally, one may reach out a hand to touch yours through the glass window, but it’s not a Naomi Watts-style connection they’re seeking. With two family groups composed of a total of 25 gorillas living side by side in the Congo exhibit, they’re not lonely—just curious.

But a glimpse into the realistic eyes of the monstrous Kong may reveal a tender story of a real-life wild animal under duress, according to Wildlife Conservation Society primate expert Dr. Dan Wharton. Wharton is coordinator of the WCS gorilla Species Survival Plan, a cooperative animal management program that ensures the survival of and creates public awareness about selected species in North American zoos and aquariums. When he caught a preview of Peter Jackson’s movie, he saw his real-life charges in the facial expressions and movements of the animated gorilla.

Wharton is also fascinated with how a movie icon like King Kong has continued since 1933 to spark public interest in learning the far more interesting truth about real gorillas. Part of the Wildlife Conservation Society’s primate conservation mission, since biologist Dr. George Schaller began his seminal studies of mountain gorillas in the Virunga Volcanoes region on the borders of Rwanda, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1959, has been to distinguish the gorilla from the raging beasts of myths. Our research has taught us that these group-oriented animals feed primarily on plants and fruit, and live together in tightly knit groups of 5 to 30 gorillas. A dominant male—known as a “silverback” for the gray-silver hair on his back—leads and protects the group, which consists of his female mates and their young. Visitors to the Congo Gorilla Forest can watch silverbacks Zuri and Fubo cast those same dutiful gazes over their busy families. And passersby themselves can be subject to that curious silverback stare.

So it’s not too hard to imagine how lonely Kong must feel trapped on Skull Island with only the company of menacing T. rexes and giant-toothed insects. According to Wharton, if you were to sic beastly predators on the Zoo’s gorillas and then subject them to primeval screams and urban chaos, they’d probably grow fierce, too. “Fortunately, most gorillas do not live in ecosystems so top heavy with predators that survival requires a fight to the death every five minutes,” he says.

Today, WCS is the only organization in the world working to protect all of Africa’s highly endangered gorilla populations—including world-renowned mountain gorillas, eastern lowland gorillas, western gorillas, and Cross River gorillas. Our scientists work to reverse the tide of habitat destruction and bushmeat hunting that threaten these “gentle giants.” In the Democratic Republic of Congo—home to at least two, and possibly all four, gorilla subspecies, and containing more than 50 percent of the continent’s rain forest—WCS and other organizations recently dedicated a new international pact, the Kinshasa Declaration, to safeguard and boost populations of great apes in the 23 countries where they live. It is only through such wide-scale efforts and on-the-ground collaboration with local people and governments that we can expect to save this living symbol of the wilds of Africa.

Click here to read more about how the Wildlife Conservation Society is working to protect gorillas and their habitats.

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