Gorilla (Gorilla)

Obviously this is a gorilla, that is, the primate with the official name gorilla gorilla.

Other redundant genus species tags, are puffinus puffinus, rattus rattus, hyaena hyaena, iguana iguana, graspus graspus, and bison bison, a list by no means exhaustive. These rather obvious names are for the black rat, the hyaena, the iguana, the red rock crab, and the American bison. Puffinus puffinus, by the way, is not a puffin, but a gull-like bird called a Manx shearwater.

Yes, yes.

On the other hand, some zoologists have decided that gorillas are close enough to humans that they (along with chimpanzees) belong in our genus, homo. That would designate gorillas as homo gorilla gorilla. After all, gorilla's are able to not only use, but construct tools, they can learn English sign-language used by the deaf (and acquire a vocabulary of 600 words), and more importantly teach the sign language to other gorillas!

But anti-gorillaists claim that well, gorillas have not created art, literature, religion, or philosophy. Therefore gorillas aren't really people, so gerrout of it with your liberal agenda.

Actually gorillas do paint (as do elephants). But thankfully they haven't been found producing pornography, hosting Sunday morning television shows, or standing up in lecture halls boring hundreds of students with ramblings about Socrates, Descartes, or Wittgenstein.

So should the big primates be classed with us?

CooperToons says most certainly not. After all, why insult the gorillas?