Great apes deliberately make themselves dizzy
Researchers saw that the apes were obviously dizzy, and quite often lost their balance and fell over.
Researchers from the University of Birmingham and the University of Warwick have published a new study that reveals that great apes spin themselves to become dizzy.
The findings could indicate that humans’ motivation to achieve altered mental states has been inherited from ancestors.
After seeing a viral video of a male gorilla spinning in a pool, researchers set out to prove the assumption that spinning induces altered mental state in great apes, and potentially did so in human ancestors.
The researchers studied over 40 publicly available videos online that showed great apes such as gorillas, orangutans and chimpanzees, spinning on ropes and vines. They found that the animals, on average revolved 5.5 times per episode of spinning, with an average speed of 1.5 revolutions per second. On average they would spin three times.
The spinning speeds achieved by the great apes were compared to examples of expert human spinning such as pirouettes performed by ballet dancers, and arial spinning rope acts performed by circus artists. For these examples, extensive training is needed to prevent the effects of rapid and/or prolonged spinning, such as dizziness and light-headedness.
The researchers concluded that great apes spin at speeds that induce physiological ‘highs’ in humans. They argue that spinning at such speeds would undoubtedly result in severe dizziness in untrained humans.
Co author Dr Marcus Perlman commented: “We experimented ourselves with spinning at these speeds, and found it difficult to sustain for as long the great apes did in several cases."
When studying the video footage, researchers saw that the apes were obviously dizzy, and quite often lost their balance and fell over. Dr Perlman said: "This would indicate that the primates deliberately keep spinning, despite starting to feel the effects of dizziness, until they are unable to keep their balance any longer.
“Spinning is a way in which great apes can change their state of mind and, since these apes share with humans the tendency to create such experiences, our discovery offers the tantalising prospect that we’ve inherited this drive to seek altered mental states from our evolutionary ancestors.”
The researchers say that further work is required to understand great apes’ motivations for engaging in these behaviours.
The BSAVA has opened submissions for the BSAVA Clinical Research Abstracts 2026.
