The park ranger's gorilla selfie that is melting hearts on the internet

A picture of a Congolese park ranger posing with two standing gorillas has gone viral.

The selfie, which features caretakers Mathieu and Patrick with two female gorillas named Ndakazi and Ndeze, was taken at the Virunga National Park in eastern DRC. 

The national park took to its Instagram page to clarify speculation about whether the standing gorillas are real. 

"YES its real. Those gorillas gals are always acting cheeky so this was the perfect shot of their true personalities", Virunga National Park posted. 

Innocent Mburanumwe, the deputy director of the national park, told the BBC that the two gorillas were taken in as orphans after their mothers died in 2007.

Mburanumwe said Ndakazi and Ndeze imitate their caregivers, hence they have learnt to stand on their feet - and to pose for a selfie.