Orangutan causes evacuation at Adelaide Zoo

AN “ingenious” 62 kilogram orangutan short circuited electrical wires and climbed a fence using a makeshift ladder in an aborted escape attempt from Adelaide Zoo today.

The elaborate plot by 27-year-old Karta got her to within metres of the public, and resulted in the closure of the zoo on one of its busiest days of the year.

(The rest of the article is at the site.)

Hah! de Waal is right.

Thanks for posting that, Mary! Gotta love it!

Zoo curator Peter Whitehead said Karta had twisted a stick into hot wires that encircled her enclosure, short circuiting the wires and allowing her to enter a vegetated area near the concrete and glass fence that separated her from the public.

She then piled up sticks, grass and plant roots and used them to climb onto the fence.

Just to be clear, I don't think anyone is suggesting that Karta, the orangutan, had any understanding of electricity or the know-how to short-circuit the wiring so that she could escape. Probably this first step was an accident on Karta's part, allowing her to enter a previously restricted area where she was then able to climb the fence.

Just a thought!

geo - I think you're right about her not understanding electricity. But she almost certainly did understand that the fence would hurt if touched and since she is an ape, she thought to "attack" as we primates are wont to do. It just happened that the standard primate response (wack what you don't like) worked. I imagine many of our human inventions started out much the same.

geo wrote:Just to be clear, I don't think anyone is suggesting that Karta, the orangutan, had any understanding of electricity or the know-how to short-circuit the wiring so that she could escape. . .

Animals can smell electricity, and Karta, I suppose, had been stung by it in the past.

Dogs’ noses are so sensitive that they can even smell electricity. While conducting an experiment, a researcher found that a dog could smell which of two compartments contained an electric current. He concluded this was because the charge resulted in the release of tiny amounts of ozone which the dog could detect.
http://knol.google.com/k/garry-jenkins/ ... n1ywaolr/8#

I love primates. They're such clever little shits.

LOL, Macai!