DRC Gorilla Selfie Goes Viral

Two gorillas at DRC’s Virunga park have been caught on camera standing up straight with rangers in an apparent selfie opportunity. The photo has gone viral on social media. 

Virunga National Park has confirmed the shot via Twitter writing, “You might have recently seen caretakers Mathieu and Patrick’s amazing #selfie with female orphaned gorillas Ndakazi and Ndeze inside the Senkwekwe center here at Virunga. Is it real? Yes! Are these gorilla gals always this cheeky? Yes! #gorillaselfie.” 

Virunga, which is Africa’s oldest national park and most biologically diverse protected area, reopened in February after being closed in 2018 following a security incident in which tourists and their driver were kidnapped during a visit. To date more than 175 rangers have been killed protecting the park.