Gerrard Kaonga
A 150-pound Gorilla once decided to save a small boy who'd fallen into their closure despite there being multiple other apes in the vicinity.
Going to the zoo can often be an educational and riveting experience, especially as young child.
However, it can sometimes take a dangerous turn.
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In 1996, a zoo trip to Brookfield Zoo in Chicago, Illinois, saw a 3-year-old boy fall into the ape enclosure.
The child suffered a broken hand and cuts to the face after slipping away from his mother and falling nearly 20 feet into the enclosure.
But the boy had an unlikely hero.
8-year-old gorilla mom Binti Jua stepped in after the boy fell despite there being 6 other territorial gorillas in the area.
A video of the incident show the boy lying on the ground before Binti approaches him and picks him up around the waist.
While doing this, the gorilla is also seen carrying her own child, Koola, on her back - which led experts to conclude that the gorilla’s natural motherly instincts must have come into play.
After picking up the three-year-old and carried him to a door where rescuers waited.
When the boy was taken in by the carers, he was subsequently taken to the hospital where he stayed for four days.
Following the incident, Binti became an international hero and likely was rewarded with her fair share of treats by the zoo staff.
As of 2022, Binti is still at Brookfield Zoo and in March, she celebrated her 34th birthday.
The story has long circulated on social media and Reddit users were both baffled by how the child fell into the enclosure and relieved that no one was seriously injured.
“What a smart and kind gorilla So glad she wasn’t shot like Harambe,” one user said, referencing an incident in 2016 that saw another 3-year-old fall into a gorilla enclosure in the Cincinnati Zoo - which led to Harambe's death.
Another said that it’s a 'LOOONG fall down if you do fall in', adding: "It baffles me that parents hold their kids up high enough that this would even be possible.”
“Those are so good gorilla genes, I bet their offsprings will be the ones to make planet of the apes happen,” a third joked.
While someone else asked how the situation 'where someone f**king falls into a zoo enclosure' even happened, but added: "Glad everyone was OK though."
And a final just said: "We don’t deserve gorillas."