During the two minute clip, the clever orangutan, at Tokyo’s Tama Zoo, dips a towel into water in order to freshen up in the 30°C heat.

After dipping the dish cloth in a rock pool, the primate then wrings out the soaking cloth and moves on to washing its hands and upper body.

A smaller orangutan which is named wants in on the action too and attempts to take the cloth from the hands of the larger one, but to its disappointment its not done with it yet.

At the end of the video, the animal even uses the cloth to wash the rocks surrounding the pond.

About the human-like characteristics of the hairy Web star, a spokeswoman from the Orangutan Foundation said: “Humans share 96.4% of their DNA with orangutans.  Orangutans split from the human family tree 15 million years ago.”

She added that the mannerisms of the orangutan are very typical of a primate in a captive setting.