I don’t often happen to see orangutans using the O-line (see my initial post on the subject for more information), but one day in July I was lucky enough to see three of them traverse it. The first and, I believe, the youngest, went ahead by herself, carefully clutching what could be a tool, a toy, or for all I know a snack in her mouth.
The other two headed out together, at a more leisurely pace. There was no swinging hand-to-hand today, but I did get to see these two orangs moving in and out of sync as they moved along the cables between one tower and the next.
In fact, part of the reason that I think they were older, other than their build, is that sometimes one of them was in front, and sometimes the other, but they showed absolutely no interest in jostling for position or racing one other—a level of moderation that I tend to associate with full-grown adults. Of course, it could just be that orangutans are more mature than humans, which is something I would have no trouble believing.
Eventually, just one length of cable away from the tower that leads down to the Think Tank, they both paused and sat, gazing majestically down at the many visitors, surveying the whole of the zoo. I’m not sure what conclusions, if any, they came to, but they stayed up there for quite some time, contemplating us or the nearby tortoises or perhaps the horizon.
I wonder what they saw.
The other two headed out together, at a more leisurely pace. There was no swinging hand-to-hand today, but I did get to see these two orangs moving in and out of sync as they moved along the cables between one tower and the next.
In fact, part of the reason that I think they were older, other than their build, is that sometimes one of them was in front, and sometimes the other, but they showed absolutely no interest in jostling for position or racing one other—a level of moderation that I tend to associate with full-grown adults. Of course, it could just be that orangutans are more mature than humans, which is something I would have no trouble believing.
Eventually, just one length of cable away from the tower that leads down to the Think Tank, they both paused and sat, gazing majestically down at the many visitors, surveying the whole of the zoo. I’m not sure what conclusions, if any, they came to, but they stayed up there for quite some time, contemplating us or the nearby tortoises or perhaps the horizon.
I wonder what they saw.
2 comments:
Cool pictures. Wish I had an O-line in our backyard.
Thrilling. It is hard to spot any primates at the Detroit Zoo. Very disappointing for Kevin.
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