Play-fighting, pranks and silliness are usually on the decline by the time the animals reach young adulthood, experts say.
A notable exception is "Zola", a 173kg silverback gorilla living in the South gorilla habitat at the Dallas Zoo.
Unlike the other four males that Zola lives with, the 14-year-old Western lowland gorilla has a special relationship with water in particular. His handlers say he loves nothing more than rain puddles, moats and - as a new viral video reveals - giant kiddie pools filled with a foot or two of water (gorillas can't swim, by the way).
"We've always known he likes water, but we weren't expecting the full washing machine-style spin that we caught on camera," the Dallas Zoo's mammal curator, Keith Zdrojewski, said.
"He also loves to splash and do this type of behaviour in the rain."
Zdrojewski said the pool isn't just for fun and is considered an "enrichment item" that zoo keepers use to engage primates.
Tara Stoinski, president and CEO, and chief scientific officer of The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International, said her first reaction to video was to "laugh and smile".
"Gorillas often like to play in water or even use as a mirror to look at themselves," she said. "The Dallas Zoo animal care staff have given Zola a great source of entertainment and he is having a wonderful time showing the very silly side of gorillas."
Stoinski said gorillas living in zoos need complex social lives with lots of interaction to remain healthy. She said it was obvious that Zola was enjoying himself in the pool —and not engaging in a stressful, repetitive behavior — because stressed gorillas are often withdrawn, quiet and uninterested in interacting with their environment.
"It is the exact opposite of what you see in this video," she said.
Washington Post