Hi! This is a re-run, originally shared in July 2012 (a lifetime ago for some of you!). I saw a video of these “glasses” a few days ago, coincidentally, doubling my desire to re-share the story here. (I’ve made a slight update toward the end.) Enjoy! — Dan

Gorilla Goggles

Bokito, pictured above, is a gorilla at the Diergaarde Blijdorp zoo in the Netherlands. In 2004, he escaped from his habitat in the zoo (a feat that is not unique), and was returned without any further problems. The same, unfortunately, could not be said in 2007, when he attacked a zoo visitor. Bokito's Wikipedia entry sums it up:

But the main victim here was no random zoo visitor. She had been visiting the zoo as often as four times a week, specifically to visit Bokito. And she'd look at him and smile and laugh. And that -- that is where she went wrong.

Zoo staff advised that she (and others) not make direct eye contact with Bokito while smiling at him, as apes often misinterpret that friendliness as aggression. The victim nevertheless continued, believing that Bokito was laughing back at her and that the two shared some special bond. She was, of course, wrong, and Bokito viciously attacked her. Bokito's strength became so well known in the Netherlands that the term "Bokitoproof," meaning "durable enough to resist the action of an enraged gorilla" became commonplace in Dutch usage.

And of course, the zoo needed to make their facilities Bokitoproof, too. Given the ape's 2004 escape -- which involved scaling a three meter high wall -- that was easier said that done. But a week later, the zoo came up with a simple, elegant, and somewhat creepy solution called BokitoKijkers, Dutch for "Bokito Viewers," as seen below.

These "viewers" are paper visors with false eyes, looking off to the upper-left. There are pin holes in the viewers allowing the wearer to look straight ahead while avoiding eye contact with Bokito. Attack-defraying paper, of a sort (provided you don’t turn your head).

There were no reported Bokito attacks after the zoo began using the viewers. The gorilla died in 2023, and the zoo no longer passed out BokitoKijkers — there's no need to, as the zoo decided not to continue with a gorilla exhibit after Bokito's passing.

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More About Animal Enclosures

Today’s Bonus fact: One of the most viewed videos in YouTube's history is one from a zoo, but if you watch the video itself, here, you'll have a hard time figuring out why. It's only 19 seconds long and features some guy standing in front of the elephants at the San Diego Zoo. All he says is "all right, so here we are, in front of the elephants, and the cool thing about these guys is that they have really, really long trunks. And that's cool. And that's pretty much all there is to say." Boring, yes, and not very insightful -- and no gorillas-misdirecting glasses, either. But it's notable, because it was the first-ever video uploaded in YouTube's history.

From the Archives: Seeing Red in the Hen House: Another animals-plus-glasses combination.

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And thanks! — Dan