I’ll be honest: the first time this video popped up in my feed, I laughed out loud. A gorilla splashing around in a tiny pool, spinning and throwing water everywhere, perfectly matched to the music from Maniac. For a split second, it really does look like he’s dancing his heart out.
But then the usual question kicked in: is this actually real… and is this gorilla okay? Because in the days of AI, you just never know.
So I looked it up.
Yes, the Gorilla Is Real (The Music Is Not)
The gorilla in the viral video is Zola, a western lowland gorilla who lived at the Dallas Zoo. The footage itself is 100% real. What’s not real is the soundtrack. Zola was not listening to “Maniac,” and no one was throwing on 80s workout music for him.
The original video shows Zola during an enrichment moment: basically a play session designed to keep intelligent animals mentally and physically active. Someone later added the music, and the internet did what it always does: ran with it.
So… Is Zola Happy or Not?
This is where it gets interesting.
What Zola is doing: splashing, spinning, slapping the water, fits very well with play behavior. Gorillas, especially younger ones, are known to enjoy water when they feel safe and stimulated. His body language is loose, energetic, and confident. There’s no sign of stress or fear in that clip.
In short, this doesn’t look like a miserable animal being forced to perform. It looks like a powerful, curious animal enjoying a moment of physical play.
Does that mean he’s “dancing”? Of course not in the human sense. But is he having fun? Very likely, yes.
Gorillas in Zoos vs. Gorillas in the Wild: My Honest Take
And this is where I’ll share my own mixed feelings.
Nothing, absolutely nothing, compares to gorillas in the wild. Dense forests, family groups, natural movement, real choices. That is where gorillas belong. Seeing them in their natural habitat is on a completely different level, and it’s something I deeply respect and advocate for.
At the same time, the reality is complicated.
Some gorillas in zoos today are part of conservation programs, breeding efforts, and education initiatives that do contribute to the survival of the species as a whole.
When zoos invest heavily in space, enrichment, research, and proper care, the animals can live relatively stable lives, even if those lives are still limited compared to the wild.
Videos like this one sit right in that uncomfortable middle ground. They make us smile, but they also remind us that Zola’s entire world fits inside concrete walls and a plastic pool.
Why This Video Went Viral (And Why That’s Not All Bad)
I think people shared this clip for a simple reason: it humanizes gorillas.
It makes people pause. Laugh. Care.
And that’s not nothing.
If a silly, music-edited clip leads someone to read about gorillas, learn that they’re critically endangered, or think twice about habitat loss in Central Africa, then the video has done more than just entertain.
Final Thought
Zola wasn’t dancing to “Maniac.”
He wasn’t performing for us.
He was playing.
And maybe that’s why this video stuck with me. It’s funny, yes, but it also quietly raises bigger questions about how we coexist with wildlife, what captivity really means, and how easily we forget how intelligent and emotional great apes truly are.
I hope you ever get to see those gorillas in the wild!
Happy travels,
Lizzy
I now have a YouTube channel as well!
YouTube
Hello Africa travellers!
Who am I? Well, the least you can say is that I am quite crazy about Africa, its nature, its climate, its culture, and more.
As a young woman in my twenties, I had already traveled to several African countries by traveling along in an overlander on my own and mostly camping ( or glamping ) and just fell in love with the diversity of it all.
So much, so that at the age of 26, I went back to university to study biology, which, unfortunately, I couldn’t finish because of health reasons (yes, I got sick from a tropical disease, oh cynicism). But this did not stop my dream of traveling back to Africa several times, and I still do.
My dream was back then to leave Europe and go study animal behavior, especially the elephants (sure, that’s every girl’s dream haha), but I am also very much intrigued by hyenas and other “ugly African animals“.
So, I “kind of” have a little bit of a scientific approach to my articles, when I write about African birds, for example. And most of all: the passion.
But life goes on, you move from one side of the country to the other, you get sick again and top it off with lower back problems, and before you know it, you are over 50 hahaha!
Now, I still travel to Africa, but take it a bit “easier” than the good old camping days, and stay in comfortable, yet affordable accommodations, together with my husband Wouter.
These are some of the countries I have traveled to: Kenya, Tanzania, Zanzibar, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Tunisia, and a little bit of Lesotho LOL .
While clearly not being African territory, but Spanish, I also visited Gran Canaria and Tenerife, and location-wise, I consider them “African”, because of their climate and nature, sue me :-p
The last trip I took was to South Africa in the year 2023, and it sure got the fevers for Africa back! From the Barberton mountains to the Drakensberg and the Southcoast, one month wasn’t enough at all to see the whole country, so we’ll be back! At ease and with a little bit more luxury than in my younger days haha!
I wish you happy travels!
Kind regards
Lizzy
