Tees for Animal Lover
Add-Free BrowsingHelp keep One Green Planet free and independent! Together we can ensure our platform remains a hub for empowering ideas committed to fighting for a sustainable, healthy, and compassionate world. Please support us in keeping our mission strong.
When cute videos hit the internet, there’s always the temptation to watch, laugh, and share without giving a second thought. Take, for instance, this video of an orangutan supposedly pretending to be a ghost.
At first watch, one might think, “Hah! This orangutan is just like us, and loves entertaining us!” But this is far from the truth. The orangutan from this video lives at the Twycross Zoo near Birmingham, UK. Are orangutans native to the UK? Surely not. Therefore, this orangutan was ripped from his family in the wild, and will never get to enjoy the close family bonds or friendships that they would normally experience.
Animals in captivity also often display signs of stereotypic behavior, or stress-induced responses to confinement. These abnormal, repetitive behaviors – when a captive animal moves from side to side, lashes out in an unpredictable manner, or deliberately injures themselves – are almost never witnessed in their wild counterparts. While this orangutan pretending to be ghost may seem amusing, such actions may very well be a result of a life spent in captivity.
Want to know the truth? If we continue to take these intelligent, complex animals from their natural habits, all while destroying their homes due the destructive toll of palm oil, these magnificent animals will truly be nothing more than ghosts.
I must say i feel that this article is very short sighted and rushes to conclusions… firstly… we do not know that this orangutan was “Ripped” from its family in the wild… it could be captive bred and its family is somewhere else in the enclosure (were only seeing a small part of the enclosure)… secondly.. the sheet may have been given to it as part of enrichment – keeping it’s mind and body active… … lastly, this animal may be part of a captive breeding program aimed at keeping the species alive… a simple search on Twycross’ website and i can see they are actively involved in various conservation projects… i’m all for making sure we’re not spreading animal cruelty and calling it cute… but we also need to make sure were not spinning things the other way and undermining great work currently being done by various GOOD zoos.
more to the point – I actually think the orangutan is having a great time with that sheet!
I must say i feel that this article is very short sighted and rushes to conclusions… firstly… we do not know that this orangutan was “Ripped” from its family in the wild… it could be captive bred and its family is somewhere else in the enclosure (were only seeing a small part of the enclosure)… secondly.. the sheet may have been given to it as part of enrichment – keeping it’s mind and body active… … lastly, this animal may be part of a captive breeding program aimed at keeping the species alive… a simple search on Twycross’ website and i can see they are actively involved in various conservation projects… i’m all for making sure we’re not spreading animal cruelty and calling it cute… but we also need to make sure were not spinning things the other way and undermining great work currently being done by various GOOD zoos.
more to the point – I actually think the orangutan is having a great time with that sheet!