Orangutan takes playful selfies of himself monkeying around in the forest, after running away with the hidden camera

AN orangutan captured himself monkeying round in the jungle in these cheeky selfies.

The two and half-year-old primate pinched Ian Woods' hidden camera after he spotted it on a feeding platform in the Tanjung National Park in Borneo.

Ian Wood

The orangutan took a while to figure out how to take the best shot

Ian, a professional wildlife photographer, was trying to get candid snaps of the apes in their natural habitat on his brand new Go Pro.

But this inquisitive monkey quickly spotted it and disappeared in to the jungle to take his own snaps.

After a few awkward pictures showing just the bottom of his chin he soon got the hang of the camera.

Ian who runs charity wildlife photography trips to the jungle was watching a live-stream of the monkey's antics on his phone.

Ian Wood

Miraculously the camera was only slightly damaged by the ape and the pictures could be recovered

Ian Wood

Ian was trying to get a few candid snaps of the great ape in Borneo

Ian Wood

The whole crazy escapade was streamed back to Ian's iPhone

The 53-year-old said: "He was very inquisitive and quickly found my Go Pro on the feeding platform."I was about 20 metres away and streaming the Go Pro through my iPhone.

"He put it in his mouth - to decide if it was food and then disappeared off in to the jungle.

"I was very worried because I did not want a baby orangutan choking to death on my camera but after deciding he could not eat it he just started to play with it.

Ian Wood

Because his mother was hand-reared, the orangutan was not afraid of humans

Ian Wood

The thief was one of 4,000 orangutans in the national park

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"He managed to trigger the "burst" mode which meant the camera started taking hundreds of pictures.

"I thought, 'well that's the end of my Go Pro'."

Fortunately the orangutan – one of 4,000 in the national park - returned after his photoshoot.

Source: Orangutan takes playful selfies of himself monkeying around in the forest, after running away with the hidden camera