Music-loving ape releases debut single for World Orangutan Day

Canberra: An orangutan at an Australian zoo has released its debut single by interacting with a music-making application aimed at raising awareness for World Orangutan Day.

Kluet, a 20-year Sumatran orangutan from the Adelaide Zoo, composed his first song, titled "Give me a Klue", Xinhua news agency reported.

Pij Olijnyk, a primate keeper at the Adelaide Zoo and a producer for Kluet's single, said the song was comparable to some renowned modern jazz.

"There are certainly nods to a couple of classic jazz songs in there," Olijnyk said on Friday.

"I can hear a bit of (the) Pink Panther theme and I think there' s a bit of 'The Way You Look Tonight' as well."

"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 song is being sold on Adelaide Zoo's website where people who purchase it can pay whatever they want for it, with the money going toward supporting the Zoo's three orangutans.

"We're just creating a bit of awareness about our orangs for World Orangutan Day," Olijnyk said.

Sumatran orangutans like Kluet are critically endangered, there's somewhere between 4,000 to 7,000 left in the wild and probably losing about 1,000 a year at the moment due to habitat loss in particular, Olijnyk added.

World Orangutan Day is on August 19.