According to research by scientists, emotions are a priceless gift passed down from ancient times by our ancestors to not only humans but all animals. Therefore, contrary to many people’s subjective thoughts that animals are inanimate, without emotions, they also have an emotional life and know how to care for each other.
Many creatures can even develop friendships with animals of different races, living together in harmony.
The story below is a typical example of a beautiful friendship , overcoming the border of differences, coming together with love and affection, without self-interest.
It all started when staff at the private zoo Pairi Daiza in the city of Brugelette adopted a family of orangutans from Germany.
Orangutans are among our closest relatives and are the only great apes found outside of Africa. Both species of orangutans (Borneo and Sumatra) are considered critically endangered.
They are the animals most closely related to us, because nearly 97% of their gene sequences are similar to humans. Orangutans spend most of their time in the treetops, eating ripe fruit, young leaves and sometimes termites or vines. This habit of orangutans helps disperse fruit seeds and helps many forests to regenerate.
The presence of orangutans is a sign that the forest is healthy. As the number of orangutans declines, so do the numbers of other animals and plants. Therefore, they are also known as “people of the forest”.
Unlike other monkeys, orangutans have a relatively heavy and bulky body. To be able to move between tree branches, they have to use a lot of strength from their long and strong arms.
Because orangutans are extremely rare and endangered animals, when they moved to Pairi Daiza, the staff here favored living near a river where otters often played around.
Surprisingly, a friendship quickly blossomed between two animals that had almost nothing in common. According to Mathieu Goedefroy, a zoo employee, the otters often swam to the area around the orangutan family’s enclosure to ask about their giant friends.
Occasionally, the otters play games by hiding under large trees or under wooden structures around the orangutan cage, and then Berani, a 4-year-old orangutan (orangutan family has 3 members). , in which 24-year-old father Ujian, 15-year-old mother Sari, and son Berani) will find ways to spot them and play together.
Mr. Mathieu said that in order to take good care of orangutans, two important factors must be met: spacious space and quality of the surrounding environment. This means that in addition to having lots of trees, the staff at Pairi Daiza also have to take care of the orangutans’ mental life, keeping them happy and creating the most comfortable space possible.