as I was reading the BBC article I had a thought wash over me
I wonder what they actually know, and how can we find out ? Do they know things we don't?
When they look at the stars do they know more about their place in the universe than we do ?
Secretly , I'd like to think they do and humans are not as smart as we like to think we are !!!
We are a weird species. We have been outstandingly cruel to orangutans, raping their habitat for a number of reasons, notably palm oil and because we can, mistreating individuals, beating them, torturing them, keeping them as 'pets' in cages so small that the bars have grown into them.
But some of us, fight for their protection and dedicate their life to looking after them at great personal danger.
Those times where I have been lucky enough to see into the eyes of an orangutan and being part of being observed as I observe, there has seem more in common between us than thousands of times I have done the same with members of my own species.