Daydreamer

Orangutans are the loners and the daydreamers of the great apes. While the other great apes are usually found in groups socializing, foraging, or playing, orangutans tend to be more solitary and seem to have a more internal approach to everything. While other great apes might go from tree to tree searching for fruit, an orangutan just sits in the forest canopy for hours on end until the location of the hidden fruit seems to mysteriously reveal itself and the orangutan swings over for its meal.

Scientists like to explain the orangutan’s unique approach to problem solving with this example: If a chimpanzee is given an oddly shaped peg and several different holes to try to put it in, the chimpanzee immediately tries shoving the peg in various holes until it finds the correct hole. But an orangutan approaches the challenge quite differently. It may stare off into space or even scratch itself with the peg. Then, after a while, it offhandedly sticks the peg into the correct hole while looking at something else that has caught its interest!