People seem to like zoos. They enjoy watching wild animals that they can’t normally see in their everyday life, they like observing their behavior and sometimes the reactions to their stimuli.
Some of the most interesting animals to observe are primates, particularly because of their psychological and physiological resemblance to humans. More specifically, orangutans have been found to share 97% of their DNA with humans, so one can only assume that they should be able to communicate easily if they wanted to.
In the video that follows, a man achieved this kind of communication, and he even ended up trading human treats for orangutan treats in the Bali zoo.
The man, whose name is Vitaly R., was filmed by one of his friends in the Bali Zoo, while he was exchanging goods with a Bornean Orangutan. As we can see in the video, the man is asking for something at first, but the animal makes some gestures that apparently indicate that he won’t be giving him anything unless he gives him something in return.
The guy is quite disappointed by this “statement” and decides to leave, until his friends advise him otherwise. They are probably suggesting that he should give the primate something in order to get what he wants. And so he does.
Vitaly grabs a treat from his pocket and throws it to the primate. The animal catches it very easily and puts it in his mouth. He seems pretty happy with his treat. Now he’s ready to return the favor. So, he grabs something next to him and prepares to throw it to the human.
However, our red friend is not careless at all. Before throwing the treat, he makes sure there’s no security staff around- he doesn’t want to be in trouble! Finally, he throws it and the man catches it and pretends to enjoy it. Then he throws it back to the primate. The latter doesn’t seem to be happy with this turn of events. Maybe he considers it rude and improper.
So, he decides to show his disapproval by throwing the treat in the air without aiming at anyone in particular. He just wanted to make his point clear- you are supposed to treasure the treats an orangutan gives you!
This interesting video gave us an insight into the communication skills of orangutans and their reactions to stimuli given by humans. As scientists have already known for ages, these primates are primarily solitary, although they start off highly social when they’re young. They have also observed them in captivity and concluded that they are more skillful when it comes to tool usage than chimpanzees. Additionally, we know that, unlike chimpanzees that can attack you for any reason, orangutans are quite gentle and relaxed and would only attack humans if they felt threatened.
Watch the video below and enjoy this interesting encounter and exchange of goods between a human and a primate.
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