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Video: Gorilla charges little girl at Nebraska zoo

The gorilla's charge was captured on a cellphone video at the Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium in Omaha.

By Doug G. Ware

OMAHA, April 17 (UPI) -- A harmless gesture by a young girl at a Nebraska zoo Thursday inadvertently sent an adult gorilla into a quick and aggressive charge, which cracked safety glass and sent zoo goers running for cover.

The girl and several others were looking into the gorilla habitat enclosure at the Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium in Omaha. In a video that captured the incident, the girl can be seen waving at the gorillas and making a chest-pounding gesture. Seconds later, one of the gorillas made a charge right at her.

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Near the safety glass, the gorilla jumped at the girl and slammed his body into the partition -- creating a large crack. People viewing the animals reacted with surprise and fright, and quickly left the area.

No one was hurt during the confrontation, but a zoo official said that is typical behavior from an adult male gorilla -- who are constantly attempting to show off to the other males in the habitat.

Apparently, then, when the girl imitated the chest-pounding often seen by gorillas, the animal reacted out of natural instinct, officials said.

However, zoo officials stressed that no one was in any danger -- and that the gorilla could not have broken the glass to escape. An official did say, though, that the glass partition had been installed incorrectly and it was that mistake that led the one and-a-half inch glass to crack.

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"There was never any danger that the gorilla was going to get out or that people were going to get hurt," zoo curator Dan Cassidy said in a report by the Washington Post. "[Showing off is] what they are after, not trying to get at the little girl."

The Hubbard Gorilla Valley exhibition, which has been at the zoo for about a decade, presently houses three adult male gorillas in their 20s. Gorillas of that age, Cassidy said, often behave similar to human men of that age -- particularly when it comes to displaying their toughness.

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