The gorillas in one Australian zoo love Michael Bublé’s Christmas album so much, the singer treated them to their own private concert.
Bublé is arguably best known for his renditions of Christmas classics like All I Want For Christmas Is You, Santa Claus Is Coming To Town and Jingle Bells – although he does have plenty of songs that aren’t Christmas-related.
While most people are up to their eyeballs in Bublé’s music come the end of December, these primates at Werribee Open Range Zoo could apparently listen to his album all year round.
Werribee Open Range ZooIn the video, you see the 44-year-old Canadian crooner giving the gorillas their own private show, performing some of his Christmas hits with a summer twist.
Bublé has been touring Australia this month performing with a 36-piece orchestra – the orchestra wasn’t in attendance for the gorilla’s live performance, unfortunately.
After singing a few of his songs, Bublé says:
Apparently when they [the gorillas] go to bed at night they sometimes play my Christmas music and so I was singing to them and I had no idea what would happen. It was amazing – their reaction was amazing.
Gorilla keeper Ben Gulli said he believes it’s the singer’s low tones they like, as it mimics their ‘pleasure grumble’.
PA images Ben said:
So when we play Michael Bublé’s CDs, the boys instantly start pleasure grumbling and sit nice and calm and relaxed. Our theory is it’s the beautiful, low tones that he [Bublé] sings with and it kind of mimics their pleasure grumble.
They’ve even been known to hum little food songs when they eat and we think he really resonates with that sound.
Werribee Open Range Zoo is home to three silverback gorillas: Motoba and his two sons Yakini and Ganyeka.
According to its website, the zoo is an important ‘regional male holding facility’, and Motaba has fathered five young as part of an international breeding program.
Werribee Open Range ZooThe website gives more information on the large primates, saying:
Western Lowland Gorillas are usually led by one dominant silverback male, though in large groups there can be more silverbacks.
These include younger, non-dominant males, who may eventually move off and live alone. Just like us, gorillas make many sounds to communicate with each other.
The zoo has done well with other breeding projects too, and welcomed a baby zebra named Zari to the zoo’s family in November 2019.
Apparently Zari was up and walking just 20 minutes after being born – impressive!
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Niamh Shackleton is a pint sized person and journalist at UNILAD. After studying Multimedia Journalism at the University of Salford, she did a year at Caters News Agency as a features writer in Birmingham before deciding that Manchester is (arguably) one of the best places in the world, and therefore moved back up north. She’s also UNILAD’s unofficial crazy animal lady.