Care tactics! Sanctuary workers teach the orangutans that snakes are dangerous through hysterical performances using rubber kites.
- Borneo Orangutan Survival organization in Indonesia tries to train gentle monkeys
- They put on a melodramatic spectacle by pretending to have been bitten by a snake.
- Orangutans must be afraid of snakes before they are released into the wild
- Videos of amateur performances have been viewed more than 8.6 million times.
This is where the orangutan advocates used their acting skills to teach the monkeys that snakes are dangerous.
Footage posted to TikTok by Borneo Orangutan Survival (BOS) in Indonesia shows rescue center workers staging a fake snake attack using snake snakes.
The comedic performance went viral, garnering over 8.6 million views in less than a week.
Borneo orangutan survival workers in Indonesia used these rubber snakes to teach monkeys to be afraid of creatures in the wild.
The video, titled “The orangutans we save need to know snakes are dangerous…that’s how security works,” was posted on March 10.
It depicts a charity worker pretending to be bitten as she steps over a rubber snake that a colleague has hidden under a stick on the forest floor and covers it with sticks.
She throws herself on the ground and screams, scaring the orangutans. Some hug each other with wide eyes, while others scatter and climb trees.
The video has been liked over 1.4 million times and received over 12,000 comments from enthusiastic viewers.
The second video, posted on Sunday, March 13, shows a charity worker carrying a rubber snake on a stick towards a group of orangutans, and one of the other workers screams at the sight.
The orangutans flee after seeing one of the workers fall, pretending to be hurt, and hearing her scream.
Monkeys are taught to fear snakes as they will need to know how to avoid them when they are released into the wild.
This causes gentle creatures to run away in fear.
BOS rescues and rehabilitates orangutans on an Indonesian island that are orphaned, injured or illegally kept as pets.
Without their mothers to teach them, orphaned monkeys are unaware of the often deadly danger snakes pose to them.
Instead, charity rescue workers use scare tactics to teach orangutans to stay away from snakes when they are released into the wild.
Orangutans are listed as endangered by the World Wildlife Fund, and fewer than 120,000 have survived in the wild. There are many conservation programs to try and save them, including at Chester Zoo, where Soubis lives (pictured right).
Known for their distinctive red fur, orangutans — a name that means “forest man” in Malay — are gentle animals that live in groups in the rainforests of the islands of Sumatra and Borneo.
They are endangered as habitat loss due to the expansion of palm oil plantations and poaching has reduced their numbers to less than 120,000 individuals.
They are very closely related to humans, share 96.4% of their genes, and are incredibly intelligent, having shown the ability to learn how to use tools, fish, and even sign language.