• pivot_root@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    Wouldn’t the better solution be to simply not turn gorillas into a public attraction?

  • sp3ctr4l@lemmy.zip
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    10 months ago

    Wait, a person came to a zoo every day and stared at a Gorilla?

    How many days? Did this person just go to the zoo every single day and mean mug a gorilla?

    Is this an anime plotline, a zoo employee, or is OP’s headline a bit misleading?

    • MummifiedClient5000
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      10 months ago

      Zoo employees had previously warned her against doing this, but she continued, claiming a special bond with him: in an interview with De Telegraaf she said, “When I smile at him, he smiles back”.

      If only I could have been that one employee who got to visit her in the hospital and whisper “told ya”.

    • bane_killgrind@lemmy.ml
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      10 months ago

      https://www.reuters.com/article/us-dutch-gorilla-idUSL3042888320070530/

      The 180 kg (397 lb) Bokito seriously injured a woman, who it later emerged has visited the ape almost every day since his arrival at the zoo a year and a half ago

      Dutch citizens lost sympathy for the woman after it emerged that she has visited the gorilla about four times a week and said that Bokito “remains her darling” despite suffering a broken arm and wrist and around 100 bites.

      Dutch Media widely reported that the woman misunderstood what she perceived as a smile from the gorilla. Experts suggest he was more likely to have been baring his teeth as a threat.

  • sushibowl@feddit.nl
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    10 months ago

    Fun fact: This incident was huge news in The Netherlands and inspired the new term “bokito-proof,” meaning strong enough to withstand or contain a gorilla.

  • Gestrid@lemmy.ca
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    10 months ago

    Found a Reddit thread about this. Some of the users further down in the comments did some digging and found this old news article. Other Redditors mentioned that they don’t give out the glasses anymore, and that the glasses were mainly a marketing plot by an ad agency.

    • EddoWagt@feddit.nl
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      10 months ago

      They definitely don’t give those glasses anymore and in fact, the particular gorilla has passed away as well. I believe last year

  • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
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    10 months ago

    ‘Everyday’ - an adjective meaning ‘normal’ and 'mundane.

    ‘Every day’ - daily.

    A trusted news source should know its own language.

  • Ephera@lemmy.ml
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    10 months ago

    All of these people look like they’re staring at me…? Wouldn’t sunglasses have worked better?

  • jonasw@discuss.tchncs.de
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    10 months ago

    From Wikipedia

    The week after Bokito’s escape, a local health insurance company sponsored the production of 2,000 BokitoKijkers (“Bokito viewers”), paper visors which disguised the direction of the wearer’s gaze. The visors were designed by advertising agency DDB Amsterdam, and won a Bronze Lion for promotional material at the 2008 Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, and a Eurobest Silver at the 2007 Eurobest European Advertising Festival.

    The word “bokitoproof”, meaning “durable enough to resist the actions of an enraged gorilla” and by extension “durable enough to resist the actions of a non-specific extreme situation” was voted the Word of the Year for 2007 in the Netherlands.

  • Lumisal@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    For those who didn’t read how obsessed the woman was, let’s just say there’s a good chance she might have been attracted to the gorilla 🦍