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Orangutan kisses woman's pregnant belly through zoo glass

"Truly a special animal that has touched our hearts," Jay Clarke wrote of orangutan Rajang.

By Ben Hooper
Orangutan Rajang kisses a pregnant woman's belly through the glass at Colchester Zoo. Jay Clarke/YouTube video screenshot
Orangutan Rajang kisses a pregnant woman's belly through the glass at Colchester Zoo. Jay Clarke/YouTube video screenshot

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COLCHESTER, England, July 27 (UPI) -- A visitor to England's Colchester Zoo recorded the moment an orangutan put his face to the glass to kiss his partner's pregnant belly.

Jay Clarke, who posted to video to YouTube, said he was visiting the zoo July 13 with his partner, who was 37 weeks pregnant, when they noticed Rajang the orangutan was fascinated by the woman's pregnant belly.

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The woman put her belly against the glass and Rajang kissed it twice and stroked the glass lovingly with his hand.

Clarke said an attempt to repeat the scenario with his own belly got only "a dirty look" from Rajang and the primate attempted to brush his hand away when he placed it between his partner's belly and the glass.

"Truly a special animal that has touched our hearts," Clarke wrote in the video's description.

Zookeepers said Rajang, who is part Bornean and part Sumatran orangutan, was hand-raised by keepers after his mother died when he was only one month old. They said the animal is popular among zoo visitors due to his friendly and curious nature.

"Rajang loves to be involved and imitates us when we are cleaning his enclosure," zookeeper Paula Fairweather told the Essex Chronicle. "We often give him a cloth and bucket of soapy water so he can clean his windows whilst we clean the rest of the area."

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"One time, Rajang was caught watching our gardeners planting some flowers, so we gave him some plant pots and peat, as well as some leafy twigs and thin branches, and watched to see what he would do. Rajang put the peat in the plant pots, and then cleverly planted the twigs," Fairweather said.

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