Orangutan washing itself with towel wows the Web
An orangutan from Japan is on its way to becoming a Web sensation after a video of the primate washing itself just like a human emerged online.
During the two minute clip which was uploaded a week ago, the clever orangutan, at Tokyo’s Tama Zoo, dips a towel into water in order to freshen up in the 30°C heat.
After dipping the dish cloth in a rock pool, the primate then wrings out the soaking cloth and moves on to washing its hands and upper body.
A smaller orangutan wants in on the action too and attempts to take the cloth from the hands of the larger one, but to its disappointment its not done with it yet.
At the end of the video, the animal even uses the cloth to wash the rocks surrounding the pond.
Speaking with Yahoo! News today about the human-like characteristics of the hairy Web star, a spokeswoman from the Orangutan Foundation said: “Humans share 96.4% of their DNA with orangutans. Orangutans split from the human family tree 15 million years ago.”
She added that the mannerisms of the orangutan are very typical of a primate in a captive setting.
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“Wild Sumatran orangutans have been seen using scrunched up leaves to clean their faces, but you also see this kind of behaviour in rehabilitated orangutans. They are highly intelligent and often imitate humans by making use of the tools they have. There is an example of an orangutan in Borneo, called Princess, which knows sign language and can imitate people washing clothes and stealing canoes.
“There is still a lot we need to learn about orangutans, we keep on finding out more and more about them which is why it is very important for us to protect them.”
