Monkey see, monkey do … the laundry

An entertaining video showing a chimpanzee in Chongqing washing clothes has gone viral online.

In the video, a chimpanzee dashes to a tiny pond with clothes, soap and brush on one side. It then begins a set of cleaning procedures — soaping up the clothes, scrubbing alternately with hands and brush, squeezing water out — all in a skilled way. Later, the water turns white but the chimp doesn't seem to be finished with the laundry.

The 19-year-old male chimpanzee, Yu Hui, is living in Chongqing Locajoy Theme Park in Chongqing's Yongchuan district.

"Yu Hui was wide-eyed the first time he saw me do the laundry," said Xu Zhengkun, the keeper. "He became more and more excited each time he saw it. So we came up with a test to find out whether he could do the task as well as humans."

"I won't let my mom see this video because the chimp washes clothes far better than I do," a netizen commented on social media.

Xu, the keeper, said, "To add fun, we will hide something to eat or play with outdoors for the chimpanzees to explore from time to time."

Evidence from fossils and DNA sequencing shows that the chimpanzee and bonobo are humans' closest living relatives, with the highest intelligence in the animal world.