Zoo monkey appears awestruck by magic trick

Zoo monkey appears awestruck by visitor's simple magic trick
Maximiliano Ibarra was visiting the Chapultepec Zoo in Mexico City
He was filmed performing a magic trick last month for the bemused monkey
The footage has received more than 1.6 million likes, achieving 18,700 comments
A zoo visitor could not have wished for a more impressed reaction when he performed a simple magic trick for a monkey in Mexico.

Maximiliano Ibarra was visiting Chapultepec Zoo in Mexico City last week when he decided to perform some simple magic tricks for the monkey.
Footage shows Ibarra hold out what appears to be a leaf towards the monkey, a Japanese macaque, which is sitting close to the glass front of its enclosure.
As Ibarra makes the leaf 'vanish' with a sleight of hand trick, the macaque leaps forward open-mouthed and wide-eyed, as though dazzled by the 'magic'.

Ibarra makes the leaf reappear and disappear and the monkey reacts by running up and down, putting it hand to its face and looking over its shoulder as if checking whether anyone else is seeing the tricks.

Ibarra footage of the macaque's 'human' expressions has received more than 1.6 million likes, achieving 18,700 comments and has been shared more than 108,000 times.

Commenting on the footage, which has been shared on TikTok, Kristen Lawrence, wrote: 'I could binge watch animals reacting to magic tricks for months straight.'

Dennis Fields said: 'What witchcraft is this?'

Ange Limanis added: 'This is the best animal video I have ever seen.'

Chapultepec Zoo was opened by biologist Alfonso Herrara in 1924 and was inspired by the Giardino Zoologico in Rome, Italy.

It was largely rebuilt in the 1990s and has some 18,000 animals across the 42-acre site.

Its many endangered animals include a giant panda