Zookeepers capture orangutan aping around and 'snapping selfies'

It seems humans are not the only species with a love for selfies.

This footage captures an orangutan's first encounter with a camera - part of an experiment set up by keepers at Blackpool Zoo.

The GoPro cam was left inside the primates' enclosure in an "indestructible" box. But within minutes the animal - one of the world's strongest and most intelligent - had got her hands on it.

Appearing to study the alien device, Cherie holds it at arms length and peers into the lens in the style of a selfie.

Then - perhaps less conventionally - she licks the lens before awkwardly carrying it around the enclosure with her.

The bizarre footage has been released as part of the zoo's #OrangSelfie competition, which asks visitors to snap pictures of themselves meeting animals on their tours.

The Zoo said: "As part of our new series of behind the scenes animal antics we thought it’d be interesting to see what happens when you place a GoPro camera in an (apparently) indestructible box and give it to one of the world’s strongest and most intelligent primates.

"Within minutes of our young female orangutans getting their hands on it, the indestructible box proved it was anything but indestructible and the GoPro was whisked on a whistle stop tour of Orangutan Outlook!

"Keepers eventually persuaded Cherie to swap the expensive camera for a banana and the resulting footage really is something else."