Trips to the zoo are always fun. You walk around and see all kinds of wildlife. Goats may bleat at you to feed them. Monkeys may swing around – though if you’re not careful, they may fling something at you. Lions, tigers and bears may roar at you as if to say, “Listen, if you get over this fence and cross this moat, I’ll maul you – I mean, I’ll show you the winning lottery numbers. That’s it… winning lottery numbers.” But the best interaction I’ve ever seen between a zoo visitor and an animal there might be the guy in this video and an orangutan.
The video shows a guy sitting next to a glass enclosure. An orangutan is on the other side. The man puts an empty coffee cup on a bench and drops what looks like a Sweet Gum Ball in it. The orangutan watches with rapt attention. Then the man covers the cup with a lid, takes the cup out of the orangutan’s sight and shakes it. Finally, he puts the cup back on the bench and lifts the lid to reveal an empty cup. It takes a second for the orangutan to realize what happened, but then his lips curl into a smile and he falls backward howling with laughter. The man can’t help laughing himself.
I admit that I’ve always been a fan of orangutans since I saw Clint Eastwood act alongside one in “Every Which Way But Loose” and its sequel “Any Which Way You Can.” Both movies’ catchphrase: “Right turn, Clyde.” That was a cue for the orangutan to punch someone. This one’s replaced Clyde on my list and that’s very hard to do.
The orangutan’s very human-like reaction is what makes the video so endearing. When it sees the empty cup, it pauses for a beat just like a person would. It’s also the fact that it can put two-and-two together and realize that something is different about the cup. Try showing this to an owl and it’ll just sit there going, “Who?” No, this feels like showing a magic trick to another person. Though I don’t know how many people would fall over laughing at it. Maybe a relative who is on their sixth beer in two hours during a holiday get-together…
I was so in love with this orangutan. How about you? Did you like it? Leave us a comment!
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