Gibbons chase away intrusive rat from enclosure(VIDEO)

The animals in residence at zoos are typically exotic — showing visitors animals from all over the world is the main purpose of a zoo, after all. Still, the occasional non-exotic animal will find its way into a zoo and the results range from unfortunate to hilarious. When a rat showed up, some gibbons at the Dudley Zoological Gardens in England didn’t quite know what to make of it.

Gibbons are technically apes, although they’re small and look very much like monkeys. Their natural habitat nowadays is in Southeast Asia and parts of Indonesia. Gibbons are completely at home in trees and are phenomenally good at swinging from branch to branch at amazingly high speeds using their absurdly long arms. An unusual thing about gibbons is that their wrists resemble a ball-and-socket joint, kind of like the human hip. This allows a greater range of motion while also reducing the amount of force needed from their upper arms and torsos and also puts less stress on their shoulder joints. Seeing gibbons walk upright is always funny because of the way they hold those long arms out to keep their balance.

As you’ll see the Dudley Zoo’s gibbons were sent into a hilarious tizzy when they spotted a rat in their enclosure. Gibbons are highly territorial, so as a matter of principle, any intruder is highly unwelcome. Although they were wary, they were also intensely curious and came over to get an up-close look. But as soon as the rat moved, one of the gibbons completely freaked out, looking very human-like, before jumping up to a nearby “vine” on a climbing structure. After that, several of them flailed their arms and drove the rat away into some nearby bushes.

Check out the video posted below and let us know what you thought of these crazy gibbons’ reaction to a rat in the comments in the comment section below the video. Be sure to like and share, too!

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