The great apes, particularly orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus – Bornean; Pongo abelii – Sumatran), continue to exhibit behavior that is truly amazing. Recently, orangutans were observed by naturalists swimming across a river to gain access to their favorite fruit. Orangutans, like the other non-human great apes, were long thought to be non-swimmers.
Observers thought they had seen it all until they observed the orangutans, thought to be almost exclusively herbivorous, spearfishing with sticks and eating the fish. The orangutans even went so far as to steal fish from fishermen. The observers thought that the orangutans had learned the behavior from watching humans. The unexpected behavior has been caught in photos featured in the book Thinkers of the Jungle, by Gerd Schuster, Willie Smits and Jay Ullal.
These acts would not be the first incredible stunts performed by the amazingly intelligent orangutan, an ape that many contend is actually the second most intelligent species on the planet. Orangutans, known to animal trainers and primatologists around the world as the best escape artists that nature has to offer, are frequently known to pick locks, break out of cages and set other orangutans free. They are also seen stealing boats and paddling across rivers.
The more that orangutans are observed exhibiting such intelligent and human-like behavior, the less contrived that putative wood ape behavior sounds. Cynics have long dismissed the reported swimming, fish-eating behavior of the wood ape as products of overactive human imaginations, because, among other reasons, such behavior had no precedent among non-human great apes.
Sources: Timesonline. Can Animals Think, Time Magazine Online. Orangutan (Sheppard Software).
