Is this a hint that humans and gorillas are old relatives or is it just an isolated phenomenon that has no explanation? The Wildlife Conservation Society’s scientists were amazed by the first pair of wild western lowland gorillas that had engaged in face-to-face mating. The Society announced on Tuesday this surprising fact, which they also got on tape for the first time in history.

Still, this surprising behavior is not so unique in the wild. Although it had been previously observed in mountain gorillas, it had never been seen before in lowland gorillas. On the other hand, this was the first time it was photographed in the wild.

Surprisingly or not, Leah, the female that was one of the protagonists of the surprising love scene, is also the first gorilla seen using a tool in the wild. Leah got her name after Star Wars’ Princess, Lia.

Leah has already a four-year-old daughter, Nancy, which was looking at her mother while she was mating with her partner, called George.

These amazing photos were in fact taken about three years ago, but they got public only now. The photographer is a German conservation biologist, Thomas Breuer, of Max Planck Institute and New York-base Wildlife Conservation Society.

"Seeing the similarity between humans and gorillas in this respect is fascinating," Thomas Breuer said.

Mating face-to-face is usually seen in zoo gorillas and zoo chimps, according to Craig Stanford, a scientist in great ape behaviors with the Jane Goodall Research Center at the University of Southern California (USC).