Roll with it! London Zoo’s five-year-old gorilla Gernot wows visitors with his first roly poly
- Gernot the gorilla finally completed a forward roll after practising all summer
- The five-year-old ape, who lives at London Zoo, rolled over four times in a row
- He is the youngest member of the zoo’s western lowland gorilla community
- Zoo keepers have described five-year-old Gernot as both fearless and playful
This is the moment a playful young gorilla showed off the perfect roly poly after practising the move all summer.
London Zoo keepers captured the adorable moment five-year-old Gernot finally performed the roll.
Their footage shows the youngster preparing himself on a tree stump before pirouetting backwards and cartwheeling into a perfectly executed forward roll.
Gernot the Western lowland gorilla, pictured, has spent the entire summer trying to perfect a forward roll
The five-year-old ape leapt down from his shelter and began the first of four forward rolls
His keepers said Gernot has been practising the routine for much of the summer
A keeper had their camera ready for Gernot to begin his audacious stunt for visitors to the zoo
According to his keepers, the youngest member of the Zoo’s troop of critically endangered Western lowland gorillas has always been both playful and fearless
The little gymnast even made it a quadruple roll for good measure – while visitors gasped in appreciation at his feat.
According to his keepers, the youngest member of the Zoo’s troop of critically endangered Western lowland gorillas has always been both playful and fearless.
Gernot can often be seen swinging speedily between the ropes in the troop’s indoor gym and racing to the very top of the outdoor climbing island of their Gorilla Kingdom home, his keepers said.
Dan Simmonds, head of primates at ZSL London Zoo, said: ‘Gernot’s been working on the perfect roly poly for a while now – we spotted him showing off for his older sister, Alika, during lockdown – but even we have to agree, with the addition of the cartwheel, he’s finally nailed it.
‘Gernot’s mum Effie and aunt Mjukuu kept a close eye on him when he was a baby as he was always sneaking away from them to work on his climbing skills and show off for our visitors.
‘Now Gernot has mastered roly polys, we can’t wait to see what he comes up with next.’
Dan Simmonds, head of primates at ZSL London Zoo, said: ‘Gernot’s been working on the perfect roly poly for a while now – we spotted him showing off for his older sister, Alika, during lockdown – but even we have to agree, with the addition of the cartwheel, he’s finally nailed it’