Orangutan finds possum in its treehouse — and throws it ‘like a frisbee,’ video shows
An orangutan at a zoo in Australia found an unwanted visitor in its treehouse. The ape’s solution? To quite literally throw the visitor out.
A video posted on Reddit by user @j___---h on Sept. 9 captured the interaction at the Perth Zoo. The video shows a possum flying out of a treehouse and through the air. People can be heard screaming as the possum disappears over the enclosure’s exterior wall.
The camera pans back to the treehouse and shows an orangutan climbing out. The large, orange ape appears to look in the direction of the long-gone possum, the video shows.
The anonymous poster told 7 News, an Australian outlet, that the orangutan threw the possum “like a frisbee.”
Perth Zoo reassured McClatchy News that “the possum was sighted scurrying off after being evicted. They are a very robust species.”
The Perth Zoo said that “the orangutan habitat is an outside environment and possums, who also live at height, just like the orangutans, have been known to inhabit the above-ground territories.”
“Whilst every effort is made to prevent (possums) from entering, the sheer height provides some challenges and sometimes the orangutans evict the odd possum themselves,” zoo officials said.
“This possum took advantage of the (cozy) warm orangutan nest during the cooler weather, and on this occasion, the orangutan was alarmed to find an unknown occupant in their bed,” Perth Zoosaid.
A Reddit commenter described the possum as being “yeeted.”
“That was like an Olympics level discus throw,” another user commented.
@j___---h, who declined to identify themselves by name, told McClatchy News that Perth Zoo employees “are wonderful, and the animals are treated very well.”
Perth is a city on Australia southwestern coast, about 2,285 miles west of Sydney.
UPDATE: The article was updated Sept. 13 with comments from the Perth Zoo.
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