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[Carrie McLaren <carrie AT stayfreemagazine.org>]

Copyright 2001 Associated Press  
AP Online

February 24, 2001; Saturday 2:15 PM, Eastern Time

SECTION: Entertainment, television and culture

LENGTH: 1035 words

HEADLINE: Orangutan Art in 'Primatey' Colors

BYLINE: JOSH L. DICKEY

DATELINE: ST. PAUL, Minn.

BODY:
Her art is abstract, at best. Her methods are uncouth. But her stuff sells,
for hundreds of dollars.

On Friday, the 24-year-old artist woke up late and sleepily climbed a cargo
net to greet visitors. Her studio stank, and banana peels lay rotting where
they'd been carelessly tossed.

Amanda normally paints only once a week. But when inspiration strikes the
100-pound orangutan, she expects to start immediately.

''She's getting a little frustrated,'' Como Zoo keeper Mike Thell said as
he readied bottles of nontoxic poster paint. ''What happens is, she starts
to spit.''

Through heavy chain-link caging, Amanda dipped her brush into red, purple
and yellow bottles held up by Thell. After each thoughtful brushstroke, she
popped the brush into her mouth and slurped it clean. There was much
slurping.

After a few minutes, Amanda handed the brush back to Thell and swept excess
paint from the paper with pointed tongue. Colors blended, giving the piece
the look of a child's finger painting.

''She usually gives it the tongue signature,'' Thell said.

After a little coaxing from Thell, Amanda slid her creation under the cage
door and flashed a blue-stained smile.

Later Friday, Amanda's art debuted to the public at the zoo's Primate
Exhibit building. More than 400 people arrived to bid on 22 framed
originals.

The auction raised about $4,800 for the zoo. The top price: $360 for a work
called ''Like the Weather;'' zoo officials won't say who titles them.

Amanda was not shy about demonstrating her skills to the auction-goers.

''We know that she likes the attention,'' said zoo spokeswoman Jennifer
Lauerman. ''She definitely knew what was going on.''

The Sumatran/Bornean orangutan started painting in June as part of the
zoo's enrichment program, meant to stimulate captive animals. The program
challenges gorillas to unlock treats from plastic bottles, has a polar bear
work its way through a block of ice to reach a frozen fish, and lets lions
roll around in their favorite herbs and spices.

Amanda shares a cage with three other orangutans but is the zoo's only
artist. Her usual reward is a bottle of Kool-Aid or orange juice.

''She's highly intelligent so far as orangutans seem to go,'' Thell said.
She took right to painting after a couple of demonstrations of what to do
with paint and brush, he said.

She's not the first zoo animal to delve into art. Paintings by an elephant
named Ruby at the Phoenix zoo fetched as much as $3,000. A dolphin at the
Clearwater, Fla., Marine Science Center took up a brush in 1992 and
originals went for as much as $175.