A band of gorillas aped human behaviour by pulling faces as they tried to avoid getting caught in the rain at a zoo.
The group, including two mothers cradling their babies, were filmed as they sheltered from the downpour at the Riverbanks Zoo and Garden in Columbus, South Carolina.
At first they seemed content to wait out the storm in a dry corner of a building, as one of the mothers appeared to lean out to check on the weather.
An adult western lowland gorilla named Acacia then decided to make a break for it, skirting close the wall to head for an indoor enclosure.
As a crowd of human visitors watches through a window, the remaining three hesitate for a few seconds before a keeper rang a bell to call them inside.
The two mothers, Macy and Kazi, rushed through carrying their babies Mo and Zakota, followed by the dominant male silverback Cenzoo.
Their bared-teeth grimaces as they did so were described as “relatable” by the zoo in a Facebook post.
“Gorillas don’t like getting caught in the rain either,” staff wrote. “Our keepers spotted the family troop as they were heading inside to avoid the downpour. That bell was their recall bell the keepers will ring when they want to gorillas to move inside quickly! They happily shimmied in for their food reward!”
The video has been watched hundreds of thousands of times, with many followers empathising with the gorillas’ dilemma.
“Lol that’s my face when I’m trying to run away from the rain too,” commended Ashley Sanchez.
Brooke Hunsinger, the keeper who filmed the gorillas, said: “Gorillas are magnificent, majestic creatures full of grace and beauty... except when it rains.”
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