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Attenborough: Amazing DIY Orangutans | BBC Earth

BBC Earth · 9.8M views · 2009-05-18 · 2:41

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Overview

Short BBC Earth clip from Life of Mammals in which David Attenborough shows orangutans imitating human behaviors like washing clothes with soap and using tools.

On Hacker News

Linked as a quick demonstration of orangutans copying human tool use and chores.

Discussed on HN; no positive recommendation is recorded in this export · HN mentions 2020–2026

Topics

Animals & nature
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david attenboroughorangutansanimal mimicrytool usebbc

What people said

steve_adams_86 · 2026-03 · Joke / meme

I've always told myself I should learn to do these sed/regex find and replace techniques, but my origins are not sophisticated and I use computers like that orangutan hammering nails in the video with David Attenborough [VIDEO] It's entirely possible that you don't need multiple cursors

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rramadass · 2024-05 · Reference

> Is he just repeating what he's seen humans do This is most probably the main reason. However there is some debate on whether these learned behaviours can be passed across generations. Here is David Attenborough showing Orangutans washing clothes/using soap/tools/etc. mimicking what they have seen Humans in their environment do - [VIDEO]

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seanhunter · 2020-02 · Reference

Orangutans are crazy smart. Wild orangutans in Borneo[1] have been known to observe humans and copy behaviours such as rowing canoes, using tools and even helping humans with chores such as laundry. [1] [VIDEO]

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Sources

Video by BBC Earth, played through YouTube.

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