Category
🐳
AnimalsTranscript
00:00 Among these orangutans, the thirst for knowledge has inspired some astonishing behaviour.
00:07 Careful to keep her baby dry, the mother leaves the jungle to visit an old research outpost.
00:16 This is the human world, a treasure trove for inquiring minds.
00:28 She quietly helps herself. A bar of soap.
00:34 She carries her find in her mouth back to the forest.
00:52 And joins a friend.
00:57 They appear to use the soap just as we would.
01:06 Around 40 years ago, rescued orangutans released here learnt to use soap by watching local people washing in the river.
01:14 But remarkably, these orangutans were born in the wild.
01:20 They were born in the jungle, and were raised in the jungle.
01:26 They were born in the jungle, and were raised in the jungle.
01:33 These orangutans were born in the wild, so the idea has spread among the wild population.
01:39 The sharing of the soap suggests how new orangutans may have learnt the technique.
01:58 It's become a form of animal culture, passed on to the young, something only seen among a few intelligent species.
02:06 Why they are so keen to lather up is intriguing, and not completely understood.
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