This Gorilla Dancing to ‘Maniac’ Is the Most Hysterical Viral Video You’ll See Today

Harambe would approve.

It’s a mere sixteen seconds of footage, but with this clip of Dallas Zoo resident gorilla Zola executing perfect Flashdance-style moves to “Maniac” in a kiddie pool, the spirit of Harambe was surely set free. 

Zola’s joyous spinning and splashing went viral on Twitter Friday, and for a good reason: it’s hard to watch this and not — at the very least — smile. 

It would be great if this was a real moment of ape-80s pop music interaction caught on camera, but the song, in spite of synchronizing perfectly with the gorilla’s moves, was edited in. Here’s the original video.

The longer clip was posted on Youtube by the Dallas Zoo last week. Some of Zola’s behavior was explained on the video’s home page:

Catch a sneak [peek] of Zola showing off his dance moves in a behind-the-scenes video shot by zookeeper Ashley Orr. You may remember Zola when he was a youngster from the viral video of him breakdancing at The Calgary Zoo, but there’s a lot more to this behavior than you may think.

Enrichment helps enhance the environment and lives of animals, like Zola, by providing them with mental and physical stimulation to increase natural behaviors. Enrichment can take many forms, but for this spunky great ape, it means playing and spinning in his favorite blue pool while off habitat!  

Zola’s video made at the Canadian zoo six years ago is similar in content, but it’s clear his style has matured since then, become more real and raw. 

We’re just saying: If there was a Gorillas Got Talent TV show, Zola would beat the living hell out of Koko doing sign language about petting kittens and eating apples.