Strange

Orangutan Escapes Enclosure in Australia Zoo

by Barbara McPherson | May 11, 2009 at 09:23 am

231 views | 32 Recommendations | 4 comments

Orangutans are pretty smart, but this one is genius. Orangutans are members of the great apes and as such are closely related to humans. They are known tool users and have been observed using large leaves as umbrellas. Karta used a stick to short out the electricity in her fence.

The ape, a 27-year-old female named Karta, jammed a stick into wires connected to the fence and then piled up debris to climb a concrete and glass wall at the Adelaide Zoo.

Zoo curator Peter Whitehead says Karta sat on top of the fence for about 30 minutes before apparently changing her mind about the escape and climbing back into the enclosure.

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Paschen

at 17:39 on May 11th, 2009

They are very smart and should be treated with great respect.

Jordan Yerman

at 08:49 on May 12th, 2009

But she could have gotten away. She joins a rarefied brethren of simian prison escapees. This is for you, Karta.

158

at 12:30 on May 12th, 2009

She is smart. It would be natural to wish she had gotten away but still it would have been too dangerous for her.

CrueltyFree

at 04:48 on June 18th, 2009

I'm confused is it Australia Zoo or Adelaide Zoo? The story quotes both.

I have a secret plan (well not so secret now) to buy orangutans (by remortgaging my home) from Indonesia and resettle them in the Daintree Rainforest. Everyone says it can't be done but The Great Ape Trust has done it in a man made rainforest (artificially heated) in DES MOINES, IOWA, USA!! That place gets really really cold (snow even).

I can't stand the thought of dealing with the corrupt Indonesian govt but nor can I stand the thought of all that we do for the Orangutans sending money for their rehabilitation, only to be set free, where they are killed, used for prostitution or recaptured and sold to Thais when paper mills and palm oil plantation owners steal land ... anyone with me?