Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Mahima Kaur & Serena Richards

Orangutan stuns zoo visitors with hilarious poses - including smoking a cigarette

An orangutan decided to put on a show and imitate her visitors by putting a stick in her mouth, pretending it was a cigarette.

The loving Sumatran orangutan - named Pretty - was snapped by photographer Syahrul Ramadan from Jakarta, Indonesia, doing the stunt during one of his visits to the animal park.

Amused by the orangutan, Syahrul decided to capture her antics with his Olympus OMD EM1 camera from 20 feet away.

The Sumatran orangutan is only found in the northern Indonesian island of Sumatra, and is one of the three species of orangutan that’s critically endangered.

'Pretty' enjoying her fake cigarette (mediadrumimages/SyahrulRamadan)
The Sumatran orangutan is one of the three species of orangutan and is critically endangered (mediadrumimages/SyahrulRamadan)

"Ever since she had separated from her child, there had been a sense of loneliness in her," said Syahrul.

"She often imitated the behaviour of her visitors. In this particular moment, she appeared to be smoking even though she had a wooden stick in her mouth.

"These orangutans are very intelligent, really similar to us humans. Through these images, we can learn to love and preserve these animals."

The loving Sumatran orangutan was snapped by photographer Syahrul Ramadan from Jakarta (mediadrumimages/SyahrulRamadan)

But the stunt was thankfully not as real as another incident that was captured on video in June, this year. An orangutan was spotted puffing on a real cigarette, and was thrown into its enclosure at a zoo in Saigon and Botanical Gardens in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

This more worrying video saw the male orangutan sitting on the ground which smoking a cigarette, in the exact same way a human would do.

It caused outrage for animal lovers, tourists, and activists who saw the video, condemning whoever discarded the cigarette for it to use.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.