22. 07. 10. - 12:00

'Rasta' orang-utan keeps his cool in heatwave

Vladimir the orang-utan knows how to keep cool after discovering that a hessian cloth blanket doubles up nicely as a sun shield.

The laid-back 35-year-old – a Muscovite who has lived at Vienna’s Schönbrunn Zoo since 1991 – moved to a new larger enclosure last year where visitors were best able to see his trademark dreadlocked hair.

The "Rastafurian" has continuously refused to allow it to be trimmed – and things could have got a bit hairy in the current heatwave bringing top temperatures of 37 degree centigrade to Austria.

But orang-utans are nothing if not resourceful – and Vladimir soon got into the swing of things by using the blanket as a sunshade. In fact, orang-utans are so intelligent that in the wild they have even been known to use leaves to make rain hats – which even chimpanzees cannot do.

A keeper said today (Thurs): "The only thing he seems to enjoy more then finding new uses for his blanket is a cold ice lolly – and even then he keeps the blanket in the other hand to stop the free females from snaffling it."

At night, when it gets cooler, the visitors’ favourite even sleeps under his beloved blanket, he added.

Carers are hoping Vladimir's good mood will encourage him to mate with the three female orangutans – Nonja, Sol and Mota – who are with him in the cage.

Vladimir found thousands of fans all over the world when carers put pictures he took with a snappy cam on his own Facebook page.