Gentle giant of great apes
Close to humans in nature
Same sympathy with love of family
Mighty vegetarian walking the Congo
Hunted and endangered.
Massive silver-backed male
Father and protector
Too heavy to sleep up in trees
Sleeps on jungle floor
While family sleeps above.
Babies cling to mothers’ backs
Carried through the jungle
Silver-back on lookout for danger
Leading family group of nine
Moving furtively from place to place.
Villagers of the Congo
Hunt and kill gorillas for meat
Trading skins on black market
While hunters kidnap the young
Selling them to zoos for display.
Days of the gorilla are numbered
Soon found only caged in zoos
Gentle giants forever captive
Paraded for entertainment
Cousins of humans jailed in misery.
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