Otters and Orangutans, Oh My!

How’s this for a case of unlikely friends? These otters and orangutans live at Belgian zoo Pairi Daiza; their friendship began when the otters came to live in the river that runs through the orangutan enclosure. A family of orangutans, dad Ujian (24), mom Sari (15), and son Berani (4), live in this enclosure and Ujian and Berani in particular have befriended the otters.

“The otters really enjoy getting out of the water on the orangutan island to go and play with with their big, furry friends,” Pairi Daiza spokesperson Mathieu Goedefroy told CNN.

Goedefroy also spoke with Bored Panda, telling them that the orangutans and otters really love chase games and hide-and-seek: “The otters hide under large tree trunks or wooden constructions, then Berani, the baby orangutan, comes to look for them. Once in a while they pop out to tease him. It’s really amazing to see.”

Goedefroy emphasized the importance of enrichment activities and programs for the residents, something regular Daily Otter followers know a little bit about: “This means that not only size [of the enclosures] but also the quality of life is very important. One of the ways to do that (besides hiding food, making puzzles, organizing mind games, putting some swings or new logs in there) is by placing animal species that can interact with each other in the same enclosure, or make them able to see each other.”

“Our gorillas live together with colobus monkeys, our penguins live with the seals, our kangaroos share an enclosure with pelicans, we have squirrels living with bats, pygmy hippos with pelicans, giraffes with ostriches, Asian elephants with Asian gazelles, zebras with buffalos… and so on.”

“It makes life more fun and interesting for both animal species, which makes it a very successful experiment,” Goedefroy added.