Otters and orangutans are friends with animals

5:54 a.m. Saturday, May 25, 2024

I love good interspecies friendships and today I discovered not one but two zoos that house otters and orangutans in the same enclosure. Pairi Daiza, a zoo in Belgium, placed Asian small-clawed otters and orangutans together.

From Science Live:

“The presence of a family of Asian small-clawed otters in (the orangutans’) territories is not a coincidence,” Mathieu Goedefroy, a spokesperson for Pairi Daiza, told Live Science in an email. Orangutans (genus Pongo) share 97% of their DNA with humans and, like their Homo sapiens cousins, orangutans “need to be entertained, occupied, challenged and mentally, emotionally and physically engaged at all times.” moment,” Goedefroy said.

“The otters really like to come out of the water on orangutan island to play with their big furry friends,” explained Goedefroy. “It makes life more fun and interesting for both animal species, making it a very successful experience.”

Male Greater Borean Orangutans always look like something from Jim Henson’s creature store rather than creatures that actually exist.

This guy has obviously had enough of the mischievous little mustelids.

But here, a young male is having fun playing away from the otters.

The Singapore Zoo is home to gibbons, in addition to orangutans, housed with otters.

Otters seem to enjoy interacting with orangutans more than gibbons.

So much for animal lovers.

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