Going ape: humans play role of mountain gorillas in Rwanda ceremony

Annual naming event fetes a conservation success story and burnishes the reputation of the country's president Paul Kagame

It was a scene reminiscent of Planet of the Apes or 2001: A Space Odyssey. Two dozen performers wearing hairy gorilla suits, complete with masks and rubber boots, scampered along a bamboo bridge, beat their chests and cavorted in a field at the foot of a volcano.

The occasion was Rwanda's annual naming ceremony for mountain gorillas. Since the 24 babies born in nearby wild habitat over the past year had failed to RSVP, a group of parents and children in costumes gamely played their parts instead, grunting and rolling in the grass to the delight of thousands of villagers, diplomats and president Paul Kagame.