Explain Fossey's first encounter with a gorilla.

Fossey was with Alan and Joan when she saw her first gorilla group. Fossey writes that the smell and sound of the gorillas precedes them. Their chest beating eventually ceased. After a period of complete stillness, Fossey, Alan and Joan crawled under some vegetation to look at the animals close up. The gorillas stared back, trying to determine if the humans were friend or foe. This was when Fossey realized the magnificence of the gorillas for the first time.