Gorilla Diunaxing injured a member of the public when he hurled a large rock from his enclosure into the crowd in China, as a man was taken back to his hotel room with a head injury
A day out at the zoo watching a well-known gorilla play suddenly turned violent when he hurled a stone into the crowds.
The huge animal, known to fans as Diunaxing, was playing in front of delighted people at Nanning Zoo, where he is known for throwing flowers and turf at visitors. However, this trip turned nasty when instead Diunaxing picked up a large stone and ran around his enclosure with it in his hand. Footage captured at the zoo in Nanning, southern China, showed the moment the gorilla reared back and lobbed the stone towards the stunned visitors, hitting a man in the head.
The Nanning Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism said the injured tourist returned to his hotel after treatment. The source of the rock is still unknown and is under investigation.
Diunaxing is well known to zoo-goers and social media users in China for its playful behaviour, especially throwing objects like turf and flowers at crowds. He went viral in March last year for digging up clumps of grass and turf and throwing them at visitors, striking one man on the head.
Nanning Zoo’s senior animal trainer, Kong Fanming, previously said gorillas are intelligent, emotionally expressive, and often imitate human behaviour. The zoo has urged tourists not to tease or feed the animals, warning that such actions can provoke unpredictable responses.
It comes as a teenage gorilla became so obsessed with mobile phones zoo bosses banned visitors from showing him videos. Keepers said 13-year-old Nassir was so fixated on the devices after being shown short clips by customers that it has affected his relationship with his family.
They pleaded with visitors not to show him any more video footage and have put up signs to warn them of the harm they are doing.
Maria Franke, Toronto Zoo’s director of wildlife conservation and welfare, said Nassir “was just so enthralled with gadgets and phones and the videos” he was becoming distracted and not interacting with other gorillas.
According to zoo staff, Nassir is behaving like a teenager and is “fascinated by videos” and would rather look at a screen than interact with customers – much to the horror of zoo staff.
