Louisville Zoo's gorilla has a fancy for cell phones

What goes through the Louisville Zoo gorilla's mind when he peers intently into a visitor's cell phone? Is it just a shiny object? A break from boredom?

Like the popular videos of the piano-playing cat or the hound that howls at Christmas carols, Jelani is fascinating to watch, mainly because he's so fascinated with people and what's on their phones.

“He definitely differentiates between pictures of gorillas, that’s his favorite, chimps or other monkeys too," said Jill Katka, supervisor of the Gorilla Forest exhibit. "Pictures of people are OK, but dogs and cats not so much, and pictures of buildings, he’s not even interested.”

In his daily life at the Louisville Zoo, the 20-year-old silverback gorilla spends his time sleeping, playing and watching his back as he and three other gorillas work out the dynamics of who’s in charge of their bachelor pad. But he occasionally takes a break to check out a phone, though his attraction for it followed an unusual path.

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At an early age and at another zoo, Jelani jumped off a platform and cracked his skull.

“The volunteers used to show him picture books in order to keep him occupied," Katka said. "Sometimes when you give them that extra attention and medical care, they become extra bonded to the humans that are taking care of them."

And perhaps he got a first taste for someone's cell phone.

"When the gorillas are on exhibit the people are their TV," said Katka. "They interact with the people and are interested in what the people are doing. They really like people watching, they know what’s going on. ... . Jelani is very personable and really likes to hang around us. He wants to see what we are doing."

We go to the zoo to see at the animals. Sometimes the animals like to turn the tables and watch us. Jelani, a YouTube sensation in his own right, seems to like watching us and our phones.

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Has the zoo ever considered giving him one of his own to check out?  Could handing him the phone possibly open up a line of communication between ape and human?

Nope.

“He would take the phone apart to see what was inside of it,” Katka said.

Pat McDonogh can be contacted at pmcdonogh@courier-journal.com or 502-582-4608.