Smokers pick up the habit for a variety of reasons, but how does an orangutan start smoking? Tori, a 15-year-old orangutan that lives in a zoo in Indonesia, got the habit from humans. She’s not part of some bizarre clinical trial; the animal picks up lit cigarettes that are tossed in her cage and smokes them.
Experts say Tori mimics the behavior of the smokers. She sees how they smoke, putting the cigarette up to the mouth, inhaling and breathing out smoke. Tori and her male companion, Didik, who shares the enclosure at the Taru Jurug Zoo, both are addicted to the habit. Zoo goers have actually snapped pictures of the orangutans smoking, according to CBS News. The problem is not new, according to reports the orangutans have been smoking for about a decade.
The next step for Tori and Didik
The zookeepers have decided to move the two to an area away from humans to help the animals quit. While medical tests show the primates are in good health, zookeepers want the two to end their dependence on tobacco.
Not the first primate to smoke
Government authorities took Shirley, another orangutan, from a Malaysian zoo when an activist group found out zoo employees were giving her cigarettes.
Government authorities seized the adult ape and several other animals that they deemed to be living in poor conditions in 2010.
Melaka Zoo Director Ahmad Azhar Mohammed said the primate’s behavior was worrisome. “I would say she is not addicted … but she might have formed a habit after mimicking human beings who were smoking around her,” he said according to CBS News.
Becoming addicted
Experts say nicotine inside cigarettes makes them addictive to both humans and primates. Quitting is not easy, although there are many products on the market that can help humans quit. The orangutans will quit cold turkey.
