CUTE: Curious otter goes ‘ape’ over new friend

(CNN) – An otter was caught on camera going ape over a gibbon at a Chicago-area zoo.

Is it the beginning of a beautiful interspecies relationship?

The otters were being introduced to their new habitat at the Brookfield Zoo. It’s a habitat that’s home to small apes called gibbons. The gibbons live above in the treetops, while the otters are below in the water.

A 10-month-old pup went right up to Neubo, an 8-year-old male gibbon, and began sniffing his underarm area. He seemed especially intrigued by Neubo’s feet.

The curators of primates said this intermingling of species probably wouldn’t happen in the wild where other species represent a threat.

Otters are known as curious, intelligent and gregarious animals.

Tim Sullivan, the curator of primates at the Brookfield Zoo, witnessed the meeting.

“He was just kind of watching cautiously but was very comfortable with the otter kind of investigating him, smelling the hair on his chest,” Sullivan said.

Otters are tactile creatures. A different video showing them holding hands at the Vancouver Aquarium became a hit on the internet.

A couple of aquariums even put holes in their plexiglass so that otters and humans can do some interspecies hand-holding of their own.

For the otter and gibbon, it was a series of pecks, resembling kisses, that finally caused the gibbon to swing away.