Primal Play Date

How'd you like your kid to have a primate for a play date? A six-year-old British girl has a very unusual best friend-- an orangutan named Rishi who lives at Myrtle Beach Safari Park in South Carolina. Six-year-old Emily Bland met her unusual pal in 2008 when she was just a toddler and her photographer father, Barry, took her with him on a shoot at the Safari Park. Like something out of The Jungle Book, Emily and Rishi happily played for hours together, with Emily even giving Rishi a ride in her doll stroller. Despite the fact that Emily and Rishi live on different sides of the Atlantic, the BFFs have met up regularly over the years and still enjoy playing together. Park authorities believe the pair developed their special friendship because they met so young -- forming a bond similar to that of brother and sister. Of course Rishi is growing up much faster than Emily and is already strong enough to pick up a fully-grown human. And while he isn't aggressive in the slightest, this means that soon he and Emily will not be able to enjoy the same kind of rough and tumble games they're used to.