Awwwww! redux

Last month I mentioned a report about Rishi, the baby orangutan at The Institute of Greatly Endangered and Rare Species (T.I.G.E.R.S) in Miami, and his two-year-old human friend Emily.

An article today suggests that the older orangutans there also have unique ways to express themselves.

While most orangutans have to make do with swinging from the trees, cheeky Surya just loves aping about on a jet ski.

The four-year-old orangutan is given a child’s jet ski to play on as part of his activities at The Institute of Greatly Endangered and Rare Species (TIGER) in Miami, Florida.

Surya is allowed to play in the water on the motorised water bike as part of TIGER’s weekly enrichment activities for the orangutans living there.

The ape is dressed in a child’s wetsuit and jets around the swimming pool before waving at onlookers.

He also loves swimming while wearing a red life jacket with his trainers.

Animal expert Dr Bhagavan Antle said: ‘Suyra loves playing in the water. But he doesn’t like getting his head wet, so he wears a life jacket so he doesn’t go underneath.

‘He is quite content when he’s bobbing around on the top. And he loves the jet ski because he can look down on all of us.’

Dr Antle and his team of handlers introduced Surya and other orangutans to water when they were just babies and played in a large bath.

‘The orangutans love playing in the bath. But they don’t swim naturally and so if you introduce them to the pool, they’d sink to the bottom,’ he added.

‘So we discovered wearing children’s lifejackets helps to give them confidence. Now some of them can even swim without their life jackets.

‘But Surya prefers the jet ski and he’ll always head for it as soon as we get into the pool.’

Y’know, I’ve got to get down to Florida soon to visit that place. Those orangutans look too cute for words – not to mention their trainer!

Peter