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Published online 14 February 2008 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2008.578

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Gorillas in the missionary position

Apes photographed having face-to-face sex in the wild.

Katharine Sanderson

Western gorillas (Gorilla gorilla) copulating in the wild have only ever been seen facing the same way as each other, front to back. But in a forest clearing in the Nouabale-Ndoki National Park in the Republic of Congo, a female gorilla, Leah, and her groups’ dominant male silverback, George, have been photographed in the face-to face position.

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  • i agree with facts

    • 15 Feb, 2008
    • Posted by: chandra kishore

  • Chimpanzees and Gorillas (African great apes) are found to be closest to human beings in the course of human evolution. Face to face cohabitation in human beings may have something to do with this sexual behaviour of great apes. More and more data are necessary for better understanding of this particular aspect.

    • 18 Feb, 2008
    • Posted by: Govindareddy Ponnaluru