Orangutans at Kansas Zoo Wash Their Own Windows Like They're Earning Their Keep

As a lifelong animal lover and zoo enthusiast, I’ve had some incredible interactions with the residents of different facilities. There was the time I watched the chimpanzee bully, then apologize to, his baby brother. The hyena that made it perfectly clear that the glass between us was the only thing preventing a total massacre. The polar bear that wanted desperately to meet (and possibly eat) my baby. But my most memorable bonding moments are always with orangutans.

It probably stands to reason. Orangutans are among the most intelligent of all primates. Their name actually means “forest person” in Malay, and it is thought wild orangutan populations have their own distinct cultures. They have been observed using tools, create elaborate nests for themselves, and even play video games. And sometimes, they take the task of keeping their enclosures clean into their own hands.

In this video, a mother and child orangutan are seen washing the windows of their enclosure at the zoo in Topeka, Kansas. Rudy, 38, is the mother to 2-year-old Udara, and washing the windows of their enclosure is one of many forms of “enrichment” the zoo utilizes to keep their animals occupied and amused.

Related: Orangutan at Dublin Zoo Learns to Feed Her Baby Thanks to Local Breastfeeding Moms

“We must warn you,” the zoo’s social media page admits, “they’re not very good and squeegeeing afterwards.”

Orangutans Washing Windows

Topeka’s captive orangutans aren’t the only members of the species who have taken to cleaning up after themselves. Orangutans in Paris, Canada, Colorado Springs, and many other locations have also taken to the activity.

Zookeepers said they started letting the orangutans wash things when they noticed them copying the movements the human keepers were making. A big challenge in captive populations like this is to make sure that the orangutans have some kind of quality of life in their confined and limited settings. In zoos, they may be safe from the dangers that plague their wild brethren, but they can also get bored and even depressed.

But scrub brushes are not the only tool they like to use. In the wild, the creatures have been observed utilizing saws and hammers, as well as washing clothes and using leaves to wipe off their faces after eating. They are extremely intelligent.

I knew an orangutan female who would have nothing to do with the male they brought to her for breeding purposes. When I asked her keeper why, they confessed they believed that she thought was too stupid for her. And indeed, she never showed him anything but contempt. When the keepers put out their food dishes, I watched her distract him, then take her food dish, sneak over to his and switch out all the fruits she didn’t like in hers for the ones in his she liked best before he returned.

That is a level of petty to which we can all aspire.

Orangutans are Critically Endangered

All three types of orangutans are critically endangered due to poaching, deforestation, and fragmented populations in isolated remnants of rainforest. Despite protections, they are still regularly killed by poachers, by villagers after starving orangutans raid agricultural areas, and through loss of habitat. The biggest threat to surviving populations in the wild is the conversion of forest land to palm oil plantations. Palm oil is a widely-used ingredient in cosmetics and food products.

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