One day at the zoo, as I chanced to be observing the orangutans, I noticed one of the females sitting on the ledge of the glassed-in observation area, apparently just taking in the afternoon sun. Along came one of the male orangutans. As he slowly came up behind the female, he began to stretch out his long, long arms as though he were working out the kinks in his shoulders. I swear to you, dear reader, that he stretched out his arms and began to put one around the female's shoulders, appearing like the stereotypical young male human in many a classic teen film, making the moves on his date in a darkened movie theater (without the fake yawn, however). Just as the male orangutan was about to put his arm around the female's shoulder, she turned around and slapped him in the face! She then quickly climbed up onto the roof of the observation deck and scurried away into a far corner. The male, meanwhile, put a huge hand to his injured cheek and sat pouting, looking totally dejected and sorry for himself, for the next half hour, or so. Eventually, he moved off to the opposite side of the enclosure.
From that day on, whenever the male orangutan has been in the same section of the orangutan exhibit as this particular female, he has a tried to engage her attention however he can. Most of the time, she moves away from him or completely avoids him, but has been seen cuddling with him from time to time. Whenever he is not allowed into the same section where she is, he has displayed a habit of sitting way up high in the exhibit and watching her all day long. It is one of the worst cases of unrequited love I have ever seen, and just goes to show that orangutans are not all that different from humans, in my opinion.
The attached photograph is courtesy of the L.A. Zoo website and is not a photo of either of the orangutans featured in this story.
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