A zoo visitor posted a funny video in which a female orangutan demonstrates excellent wit to the cub and the audience … And, perhaps, a sense of humor.
TikTok user Lola Testu was visiting an Indonesian zoo and dropped her sunglasses into an orangutan enclosure. The female with the cub in her arms picked up her glasses and deftly put them on. For some time she enjoyed exploring the new “toy”, trying it on this way and that.
Lola recorded her actions on video. When viewed, one gets the impression that the monkey quite meaningfully entertained both himself and the audience, which supported him with funny comments. Having played enough with glasses, the orangutan with a well-aimed throw sent them over the fence to the owner, for which she received a treat from the zoo workers.
Orangutans belong to the great apes and are closest to us in terms of DNA structure. According to a recent study by scientists from the University of Portsmouth (UK), they, like us, have a sense of humor. Their intelligence is much higher than that of other primates. No wonder orang utan means “forest man” in Malay. Unfortunately, this species is now endangered.
For orangutans living in captivity, zoopsychologists and biologists come up with different game tasks – the high intelligence of these monkeys requires constant activity. Puzzle feeders are placed in the enclosures, toys and other items are thrown to the orangutans.
For example, at the Moscow Zoo, primates “with pleasure try on human clothes, which employees give them from time to time. But blankets, or at least pieces of burlap, are in special demand – “forest people” are happy to wrap themselves in them during their holidays.1.
Those who still doubt the theory of evolution and do not believe that the monkey is our common ancestor can simply go to the enclosure with orangutans and watch the “relatives”. Great mood guaranteed!
1 https://moscowzoo.ru/animals/primaty/orangutan/