February 16 - Gorilla

I have a hard time not feeling emotional whenever I see gorillas in a zoo, they sit with a chilling dignity that oftentimes brings me to tears:

"[I]n Africa I was a member of a family—of a sort of family that the people of your culture haven't known for thousands of years. If gorillas were capable of such an expression, they would tell you that their family is like a hand, of which they are the fingers. They are fully aware of being a family but are very little aware of being individuals. Here in the zoo there were other gorillas—but there was no family. Five severed fingers do not make a hand." ~ Author: Daniel Quinn

Patrick Van de Ven posted this design in Balloon Magic magazine #79 along with his frog.  Another fantastic, yet simple characterization of a gorilla - there are relatively few balloons used to create such nice form.

"Grape Pig, Grape Ape"