This is the moment a baby orangutan explores its enclosure in warm spring weather – but always keeps a tight grip on mum.
The nine-month-old girl was being shown round the outdoor area of their zoo home by her watchful mother teaching her how to forage for food.
The youngster hitched a lift on mum as they patrolled around the public part of their enclosure at Schoenbrunn Zoo in Vienna, the Austrian capital.
Charming video footage of the pair released by the zoo on Thursday, 23rd March shows the baby first grabbing hold of mum’s leg before being swung up onto her back.
Then the pair pick their way through the climbing ropes and logs designed to mimic their natural environment in the Indonesian jungle.
As they stop to graze, the mum shows her daughter where to find the sweetest snacks like rose petals, fresh bamboo and newly-sprouting grass.
Enclosure head keeper Sandra Keiblinger said in a statement obtained by Newsflash: “Everything is new, our orangutan girl is still careful.
“In the indoor area, the little one is already climbing around on her own.
“In a few weeks she will also dare to do this in the outdoor enclosure.”
Orangutans are native to the rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia, and can nowadays only be found only in parts of Borneo and Sumatra.
Keiblinger said: “Orangutans have really big muscles. Their arms are extremely long and strong, their thumbs shortened.
“Despite their weight, they can shimmy from branch to branch.
“Their feet work like hands – perfect for climbing trees and balancing on ropes.”
Orangutans are considered highly intelligent and share 96.4 per cent of human genes.
But their numbers have significantly decreased due to deforestation and habitat loss in the last decade.
Current records say there are less than 105,000 Bornean orangutans in the wild.
Projections claim this number is expected to decline further to 47,000 individuals by 2025.
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Story By: Georgina Jadikovska, Sub-Editor: Marija Stojkoska, Agency: Newsflash
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