SUBMISSION: pause for thought by martha robbins

"I’ve been fortunate to spend hundreds of hours observing wild gorillas feed, interact socially, and go about their business during the 20+ years that I’ve studied them. Nonetheless, I am constantly struck by their strength, beauty, and similarity to us even when they are doing such routine things as eating. In this case, the silverback was munching away when he suddenly paused mid-chew in such a human-like way that I wondered what thought had suddenly occurred to him. Perhaps he was reflecting on how the world would never be the same if gorillas went extinct."