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Orangutans and water - an unusual mix

Category: Orangutans, Rehabilitation, Tanjung Puting National Park (TPNP) | Date: Dec 12 2008 | By: orangutanfoundation

Thank you for all your comments and I’ll do my best to respond to them soon.

Another interesting thing happened on Sunday at Camp Leakey: Siswi almost completely submerged herself in water. Orangutans can’t swim though they do wade. The rehabilitated, ex-captives at Camp Leakey will also play with water but that is probably a behaviour learnt from watching the staff. What made Sunday interesting was that Siswi spent so long in the water. She sat there for a good fifteen minutes and actually bobbed up and down so the water rose up to her chin.

Siswi bathing

Siswi - adult female orangutan in the river.

I am quite convinced she was simply trying to cool off. However, that does not fully explain a) quite how an orangutan’s natural wariness of water could be so totally overcome; let’s not forget there are crocodiles in these rivers and b) how an orangutan who instinctively shelters from rain, which makes them cold, would on another occasion use water for exactly that purpose.

Siswi in the river

Siswi sitting in the river

Who knows whether Siswi would have sat in the water for so long if we had not been there and it is not a huge intellectual leap to realise water makes you cold and you can choose when you want to be cool or dry. However, none of that dry scientific reasoning detracts from the interest: orangutans are fascinating!

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4 Responses to “Orangutans and water - an unusual mix”

sheryl, washington, dc, on 12 Dec 2008

She’s a trailblazer, and a really smart ape.

s.

brigitta, switzerland, on 12 Dec 2008

Oh yes, they are! And Siswi, I realy love her!

George Zaharoff, on 10 Jun 2009

Greetings! I hope this finds you very well. I started a new project called “Project Bonobo” which I try to answer questions not easily available on-line or in books. Can you send me an e-mail where if I have a question about orangutans you could perhaps help me?

Here’s a link I posted using information you posted. If there’s anything you would like added, corrected, or changed please let me know!

Yours,
George Zaharoff

http://georgezaharoff.com/2009/06/10/are-bonoboschimpsorangutansgorillas-afraid-of-water.aspx

orangutanfoundation, on 11 Jun 2009

Hi George

Thanks for your comment. Please email info@orangutan.org.uk if you have any question or ask via this blog.

Stephen Brend wrote this post, but he has now left Orangutan Foundation and June Rubis is his replacement. We hope to post some more images of orangutans in water or with water soon as this behaviour has been reported about in the news recently. One of the images is from around 1986 so this behaviour isn’t a new occurrence.

Thanks for getting in touch,

Cathy

Orangutan Foundation

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