Suryia the Swimming Orangutan! P.S. His Best Friend is a Dog!

I'm not sure if anyone remembers Suryia, the orangutan. He's well, an orangutan and he lives on a preserve called The Institute of Greatly Endangered and Rare Species (TIGERS) in Myrtle Beach.

He turned up in a Today Show segment this week because he's learned to swim--which may not sound crazy to you, but it would if you were an orangutan.

They aren't really built for swimming.

Like me trying to rollerskate--it's not natural.

While I don't want to take too much attention away from his unthinkable athleticism, I want to remind everyone that this is the same orangutan who was in the news two years ago for having a hound dog as a BFF!

And guess what else, Suryia, and his buddy Roscoe the dog (who pulled the classic dog-finding-a-great-family move by following Suryia and his people home one day), love to swim together.

So even though he wasn't prominently featured as one of Suryia's coaches, Roscoe deserves some props.

This video from TIGER showcases the bond between the two, and has some great swimming shots.

What I couldn't shake while watching this though, was the feeling that these two are some rebellious reincarnated 16th century dukes or some such.

Maybe they're actually brothers who got into a heap of trouble with King Henry and have been coming back, over and over, as two species that would never have any chance of being in the same place at the same time.

You know? Like the universe version of making one of them sit in the back of the classroom?

What do you think? Crazy coincidence or somehow fated?

Photo via.