Filmmakers released a robotic orangutan into the Borneo rainforest. What it captured was astonishing

Although chimpanzees are renowned for their tool use, there are many animals in the natural world that use sticks, rocks and shells to their advantage. But none are filmed using equipment that you’d find in a DIY toolkit…

• "They have been seen to use use sticks as weapons against humans, and clean their ears with grass" – animals that use tools in surprising and clever ways

For the 2017 BBC TV series Spy in the Wild, scientists and filmmakers teamed up to capture natural animal behaviour. As part of this, detailed robotic animals were built and fitted with cameras, then deployed in a variety of habitats.

• Biologists stuck a camera on a sea turtle – and it filmed this
• 'As we approached the overhang, we spotted it – a bizarre creature with a fleshy beard lurking in the shadows'

• “Astonishing behaviour.” Filmmakers left a robot orangutan in the Borneo rainforest. The footage helped solve a mystery that puzzled scientists

And in the Bornean rainforest, ‘Spy Orangutan’ was used to film the behaviour of a group of great apes.

In Camp Leakey, in central Borneo, you’ll find orangutans who have been removed from captivity and returned to the wild.

• Monkey vs ape: what’s the difference between these two intelligent primates?

It’s thought that these orangutans have seen people use tools to build the huts in the rehabilitation centre and copy this, combining their imitation skills and ability to use tools.

But the orangutan in this clip is wild-born, suggesting that the behaviour has been passed down through generations.

Similar behaviour was also filmed for the 2002 BBC TV series The Life of Mammals, which was presented by David Attenborough.

The orangutans in this group washed their hands, ‘rowed’ boats and grasped tools.

Top image: a screenshot of a video of an orangutan using a saw. John Downer Productions co-produced Spy in the Wild. Credit: John Downer Productions/Getty Images