Orangutan releases his own jazz single
The cover of Kluet's Give me a Klue single. Photo: Adelaide Zoo
Jazz cats stand aside — Adelaide Zoo’s Sumatran orangutan Kluet is releasing a debut single for World Orangutan Day.
Producer and primate keeper Pij Olijnyk described the tune, Give me a Klue, created using a music-making app, as modern jazz.
“There are certainly nods to a couple of classic jazz songs in there,” he said.
“I can hear a bit of Pink Panther theme and I think there’s a bit of The Way You Look Tonight as well.”
Orangutans are incredibly intelligent and share 97 per cent of their DNA with humans.
“He’s brilliant, [orangutans] in general are really the geniuses of the animal world.
“Kluet in particular is very playful and cheeky, very inquisitive, loves to try new things.”
The 20-year-old’s song will be sold on the Zoos SA website where people can pay what they would like to support Adelaide Zoo’s three Sumatran orangutans.
“We’re just creating a bit of awareness about our orangs for World Orangutan Day,” Mr Olijnyk said.
“It’s an opportunity to just celebrate orangutans but also to raise a bit of awareness about the plight of wild orangs because they’re in a lot of trouble.
“Sumatran orangutans like Kluet are critically endangered, there’s somewhere between 4000 to 7000 left in the wild and we’re probably losing about 1000 a year at the moment due to habitat loss in particular.”
The zoo has a partnership with Wildlife Asia to support habitat protection and rescue efforts of Sumatran orangutans.
