National Geographic Kids - Ape escapes: and more true stories of animals behaving badly

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eISBN: 978-1-4263-0957-1

v3.1_r1

Fu as a 250-pound (114 kg) pasha. A pasha is a full-grown male with cheek pads.

In the wild, baby orangutans like this one stay with their moms eight years or more.

A young orangutan peers out of his cage at the Henry Doorly Zoo. No humans are in sight. The coast is clear.

He sticks his long fingers through the chain-link fence. He bends back one corner. He pulls. ZZIIIIP! The stiff metal fencing unravels like a hand-knit scarf.

Some time later, veterinarian Lee Simmons arrives at work. He rounds a bend in the path and yikes! Dr. Simmons stops in his tracks. It couldnt be, but it is. A shaggy, red-haired ape sits up in a tree. How did he get loose?

The ape is about six years old, tailless, and weighs 100 pounds (45 kg). He has a mustache and beard like a famous movie character. For that reason he is called Fu Manchu. Fus arms are super strong and longer than most fourth graders are tall. In a wrestling match against a man, the orangutan would win.

The ape doesnt move or make a sound. But Dr. Simmons sees a twinkle in his eyes. The vet cant help but wonder if Fu knew what he was doing. Its likehes been sitting there just waiting for me.

Fu climbs down. The sun sparkles on his red hair as he scrambles back to his cage. Dr. Simmons follows, shaking his head. What a crazy ape! He locks Fu inside. He calls someone to fix the fence and then goes about his normal business. And Fu goes about hisdreaming up more hijinks to come.

Fu was born in a rain forest on the Indonesian island of Sumatra (sounds like SUE-MAH-TRA ). Like most baby orangutans, Fu probably never knew his father. Orangutan mothers care for their helpless babies. Fus mother nursed him. She held him and snuggled him. Every night she built them a nest high in the treetops.

These sleeping nests were the size of bathtubs. Fus mother made them by twisting leafy branches together. Each fresh, new nest must have felt as comfy to Fu as clean bedsheets do to you.

Usually Fu and his mom stayed dry in their cozy bed in the sky. At other times thunder boomed. Rain fell in sheets. Then the apes huddled together and turned giant leaves into umbrellas.

During the day, Fu often rode on his mothers back. He clutched her hair as they swung through the trees looking for durian (sounds like DUR-EE-ANN ) fruits. Durian fruits stink like sweaty gym socks. But orangutans go ape for the smelly stuff.

The problem is durian fruits dont all ripen at the same time, and the trees are scattered. To find them, orangutans must keep a map of the forest inside their heads. For Fus mother it must have been like memorizing a school bus route with hundreds of stops.