Pictured: The orangutans who overcame their fear of water (and crocodiles) to swim in search of food




According to the laws of nature, apes and water don't mix.

But no one seems to have told these orangutans.

Splashing gleefully in a muddy river, they have obviously overcome their natural fear of getting wet. And their deeply-held suspicion that crocodiles are lurking somewhere in the water.



Instead, they dived in at the deep end, paddled back and forth from the shore and swung into the water from overhanging branches.

This extremely rare picture shows an orangutan after swimming through the waters of the Rungan River, in Central Borneo, Indonesia

In fact, they did everything practised pool goers would, apart from perhaps bagging the best loungers at the side.

Wildlife experts were astonished to see the orangutans' aquatic display in a river on Borneo.

'This is a rarity - to see orangutans coming down for a swim is unheard of in the wild,' says Simon Husson, scientific consultant for the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation.

'However, we know that orangutans are intelligent and innovative.

'They try out different behaviours, or ways of solving problems in their environment, and over time develop cultural innovations.'

According to experts, it is unusual for orangutan to swim in the river because they are afraid of water and of predators like crocodiles

Whereas the huge apes used to swing from branch to branch across the water they now have no choice but to take to the water

The orangutans were spotted splashing around in the Rungan River near the rescue and rehabilitation centre where they live in central Borneo, Indonesia.

But unlike King Louie in the 1968 Disney movie Jungle Book - who declared himself the King of the Swingers - they seemed to be competing to be king of the swimmers.

The group of 12 were rescued after their native habitat was destroyed by loggers and are in the last stages of rehabilitation before they are returned to the wild.



Logging in Borneo has ruined the orangutans' habitat, threatening their existence in the wild

Look who's dropped in: An ape takes the plunge

Enjoying a plentiful food supply at the rescue centre instead of scrabbling for survival with the loggers on their trail, has done wonders for the orangutans.

In fact, it is the life of plenty that apparently gave them the courage to take to the water.



'When orangutans have a large food supply, then they feel emboldened to experiment with their surroundings,' Mr Husson said.

'The islands on which these orangutans have been placed to prepare them for release back into the wild have more and better food resources than the average forest, so it is unsurprising that these apes are trying out different things - like swimming.

The rising worldwide demand for palm oil, used to make bio-diesel fuel, has led to mass deforestation in Borneo

An ape takes to the water in search of food. The photographer said: 'I spent three days on a boat waiting for the orangutans to come to the river bank and swim and on the third morning I got what I wanted'

'Also, in this area there is a very low to non-existent crocodile population which may have been noticed by the orangutans.'

Villagers who live near the Rungan River have been aware of the orangutans' extraordinary water aerobics for some time.

Photographer Ardiles Rante, who took these amazing pictures, spent three days on the riverbank waiting for the orangutans to turn up.

'They were simply playing and messing around in the water and were thoroughly enjoying themselves,' he said. 'The water here can get up to 30 feet deep in places and the orangutans just seemed to wade out and swim.

'The majority of them used a branch for support, but they did not seem put off by the water or being wet. They all seemed to know exactly what they were doing.'

