Spinning gorillas ‘are getting high’ when they monkey around

‘The drive for great apes to engage in spinning is very similar to that of a child riding a merry-go-round’

GORILLAS and other apes spin themselves round in circles to get “high”, and our earliest human ancestors are likely to have done the same in pursuit of an altered mental state, scientists believe.

Researchers watched a widely shared video of a gorilla spinning around in a pool and wondered why the ape was behaving like this, if it was more widespread, and what purpose it could have.

Further analysis revealed it to be a common behaviour and showed that the apes use ropes or vines to rotate more than five times at a speed of 1.5 revolutions per second.

Primates did it three times in a row, on average, and the spinning was as fast as a human circus performer.

The researchers said there were examples of cultures throughout history seeking an altered mental state, with Dervish Muslims using dance to achieve this by spinning to make themselves dizzy.

Dr Adriano Lameira, associate professor of psychology at the University of Warwick and co-author of the study, said the behaviour was done on purpose by apes to create a feeling of euphoria, and echoed that seen in humans, including children enjoying a playground merry-go-round.

“As you will see from the average number of revolutions and bouts of spinning, great apes were deliberately engaging in the behaviour repeatedly,” he said.

He believes the apes achieves a mental state equivalent to that of being on drugs but with a brief and light high that does not require substances.

It is also likely to be the first kind of high, or way of altering one’s mental state, that ancient human ancestors came up with, he added. “If not the original high, then at least one of the oldest that predates substance-induced highs,” Dr Lameira said.

“But it still survives in our closest living relatives, and thus it could be used to study the ‘original’ motivations to altered states more generally.”

The team was inspired by a dancing gorilla rotating in a paddling pool but later found more than 40 videos of apes spinning round rapidly using a rope or vine.

After finding the videos the team attempted to re-create the speed and duration of the ape-like movements but found it difficult to keep going for as long as the apes.

Dr Lameira said that apes’ spinning may be a form of social bonding or light entertainment and that it may have been the same for our prehistoric ancestors before the advent of psychoactive drugs.

“Our observations occurred, mostly, in captivity, where highly intelligent animals such as great apes can experience low sensorial and cognitive stimulation and challenge,” Dr Lameira said.

“As such, the drive for great apes to engage in spinning is very similar to that of a child wanting to ride a merrygo-round in the play park, or similar to people seeking entertainment.”

The study is published in the journal Primates.