All posts tagged: Gorilla

David Attenborough reveals he was interrogated by Rwandan police after filming iconic gorilla documentary

David Attenborough reveals he was interrogated by Rwandan police after filming iconic gorilla documentary

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture email Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Sir David Attenborough captured an extraordinary moment in nature television back in 1978 when a young gorilla climbed on top of him in the Rwandan jungle. However, the TV presenter has revealed that the footage almost never made it out of Africa – with his crew being stopped and interrogated by local police. Attenborough looks back on his stellar career in a new BBC documentary ahead of his 100th birthday on 8 May, with Making Life of Earth: Attenborough’s Greatest Adventure revisiting the award-winning 1979 docuseries. Reading from his diaries in the special, Attenborough reveals that the production crew had “no idea” that they were going to capture the now-iconic gorilla moment in Rwanda – “or how close we would come to losing everything”. David Attenborough opens up about making ‘Life on Earth’ in a new BBC documentary (PA) While heading …

Photos of the Week: Glacier Performance, Gorilla Birthday, Moon Return

Photos of the Week: Glacier Performance, Gorilla Birthday, Moon Return

Published by Sam Flores

Bill Ingalls / NASA Christina Koch, a NASA astronaut and Artemis II mission specialist, hugs the Orion spacecraft in the well deck of USS John P. Murtha on April 11, 2026, in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California. Koch, along with the astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Jeremy Hansen, splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on April 10 at 5:07 p.m. PT, after their trip around the moon. Source link

Fatou, the World’s Oldest Gorilla Living in Captivity, Celebrates Her 69th Birthday at Berlin Zoo

Fatou, the World’s Oldest Gorilla Living in Captivity, Celebrates Her 69th Birthday at Berlin Zoo

Published by Sam Flores

But no birthday cake, because sugar isn’t healthy for the aging primate. Fatou, a western lowland gorilla, arrived in what was then West Berlin in 1959. She was believed to be about 2 years old at the time, though her exact birth date isn’t known — April 13 is her designated birthday. Gorillas can live for around 35-40 years in the wild and longer in captivity. Fatou became the zoo’s oldest resident in 2024, following the death of Ingo the flamingo. The bird was believed to be at least 75 and had lived at the zoo since 1955. Fatou was likely born in the wild in western Africa, but the story goes that a French sailor took her out of Africa and bartered her to cover his bar tab in Marseille, France, according to the Guinness World Records. A French animal trader then reportedly sold her to the zoo. These days, Fatou lives in an enclosure of her own and prefers to keep her distance from the zoo’s other gorillas in her old age. She’s …