Dear Brianna,

I once took an anthropology class to learn about humans. We went to the zoo to observe primate behavior.

I asked my friend Nanda Grow about the behavior you describe—throwing poop. She’s a biological anthropologist at Washington State University. She studies primates like tarsiers.

She told me there are lots of reasons a captive gorilla might throw poop. It may feel threatened or overstimulated. Or it could be reacting to its environment in a playful way.

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