Great ape tries to copy magic trick

A magician in the UK has passed his love of magic onto a curious orangutan who was impressed by one of his card tricks and then left baffled after trying to replicate it.

Yesterday Matt G shared a video of his encounter with Rajang the orangutan at visited Colchester Zoo online.

The great ape sits close to the glass wall of its enclosure and watches intently as the magician shuffles a deck of cards.

Matt then picks one up and presses it against the glass with both of his hands.

When he removes them the card is on Rajang's side of the enclosure.

The orangutan picks up the card hesitantly at first then inspects it more closely before having a crack at the trick itself.

Rajang places the card back against the glass and taps on it gently with a stick.

But despite the primate's best efforts its unable to pull off the illusion.

"A touch of magic can fuel anyone's curiosity," Matt G wrote online.

At the time of publication the video had been watched more than 280,000 times in less than 24 hours.