A clip of Sandra—the 34-year-old Orangutan—washing her hands has been making the rounds online. However, the accompanying caption saying, “she started washing her hands because she saw all the zookeepers doing it repeatedly during the COVID-19 crisis” is false.
Sandra lives at the Center for Great Apes, the only accredited sanctuary for orangutans in the Americas. Prior to that she lived at the Buenos Aires Zoo before it was closed.
The original video was shared on November 12, 2019 on the Center for Great Apes’ Facebook page with the original caption: “Sandra has daily pools of water and really likes to wash things — her toys, her surroundings, and her hands! Sandra loves to clean up!”
You can learn more about Sandra here.
