Crafty orangutan escapes his zoo enclosure because the apes have had it with our crap
Given the current state of the world, let me be the first to say it: I, for one, welcome our new ape overlords.
The Planet of the Apes movies aren't a reality... yet, but proof that primates are getting antsy surfaced on Sunday in South Carolina. A male orangutan at the Greenville Zoo escaped his enclosure, prompting a brief lockdown while zoo staff attended to the matter.
All of this played out rather quickly, so -- thankfully -- there are no videos of an orangutan running amok and terrorizing zoo attendees. The escape itself, however, was captured on video by a witness -- identified by Fox Carolina as "Emilie S."
For those having a hard time sussing out what's going on here: our orangutan friend, named Kumar, managed to snap a wire holding together the net at the top of the enclosure. He then unraveled the net enough to make a hole big enough for his orangutan self to fit through.
Everything about this video is perfect, from the Kumar's escape to the human commentary playing behind it. And, of course, the fact that this story has a happy ending -- no one was harmed, not even the ape.
The breakout was reported quickly, and the ape never made his way into the park area where guests would be. Zoo staff corralled human attendees into the gift shop and then used water hoses to clear all the orangutans out of the enclosure for long enough to fix the netting.
The lockdown lasted just 30 minutes, and the only casualty was the exhibit itself: the zoo shut it down temporarily, presumably to make sure this whole incident wouldn't be repeated.
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Topics Animals
Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
