Pick of the bunch: Ingenious orang-utans grab blackberries using makeshift rope

Daily Mail, by DAILY MAIL REPORTER, 26th July 2011

These incredible pictures show the extraordinary skill and ingenuity employed by orang-utans to get the fruit they crave.

Using an old rag, almost like a zipwire, they hang from a ropeway above the bushes in their compound at the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust on Jersey and lower their way to the best fruits.

It's a long way down, how am I going to get there? To get to the
berries the orang-utans first pull a long piece of rag across the rope

They then use the rag to lower themselves
down to reach their quarry

They drag the rag across the distance between trees holding up a rope and once they've got to where they want to be they just hang down and take the juicy berries below.

They were pictured in their enclosure on the Channel Island which has been home to the orang-utans since 1968.

The family is made up of a dominant male, Dagu, three adult femails, Gina, Mawar and Dana an there are three youngsters, Jiwa, Jaya and Gempa.

According to Wikipedia they share their island play areas with a pair of white-handed Gibbons called George and Hazel.

This is so not a problem: Now, with the berries in their grasp
the orang-utans can pick and choose at their leisure