Comments on: Orang Escape Closes Oz Zoo

By: ausieGirl

ausieGirl — Wed, 27 May 2009 07:10:41 +0000

when i saw this on the news they said they thought she might have been trying to find her (late)mate, as she got out, and the got back in again. poor thing, it’s so said.

i agree with red_pill_junkie, all zoos, even the “good” ones should be improved to better re-create their natural home, the money this would cost however presents a clear problem.

By: red_pill_junkie

red_pill_junkie — Wed, 13 May 2009 19:35:30 +0000

Maybe it’s high time we realize we need to keep these cousins of ours in other kind of facilities. Not an ordinary Zoo, maybe something more like a ‘gathering of primates’ if you will —although I don’t have a clear idea of how such a place would be like.

By: cryptidsrus

cryptidsrus — Wed, 13 May 2009 16:12:57 +0000

Smart Orang.
Glad she was captured, though.
She would not be better off in the outside world.

By: DWA

DWA — Wed, 13 May 2009 13:26:19 +0000

Primatology, anthropology and crypto can all really learn from this one and from the many like it we have been reading lately.

Why? Well, that whole two-legged thing, of course.

What clearly (just read the literature) leads to a whole lot of public incredulity on the sasquatch is the apparent bipedality of the animal, and its humanlike feet. Many many folks out there seem so wedded to the idea that bipedalism is a key contributor to our intelligence (freeing the hands frees the mind, yadayadayada) that it’s become an irreducible hallmark of humanity to them, as much an intelligence indicator to some as the very brain itself. We’re the only animal that is smart enough to walk on two legs and “our own two feet,” and the only animal bipedal enough to be that smart.

Here’s yet another piece of evidence that you don’t have to go everywhere on two legs and humanlike feet – or be human, for that matter – to be very damn smart.

Smart enough, in fact, to want out of the cage where your mate died because you need to put all that behind you and Move On. It would be a slam-dunk finalist, if Karta were human.

By: Quakerhead

Quakerhead — Wed, 13 May 2009 03:47:31 +0000

There was a similar orangutan escape at the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans a few months ago. For the last few years, t-shirts were given to the orangs on occasion and were treated as favorite enrichment items. Barani, a young male Sumatran orangutan, wrapped one of the t-shirts around the electric wires and climbed out. About 10 minutes later, he had about enough excitement and calmly climbed back into his exhibit. The electric wires were not set to harm the animals but only to give them a mild scare if touched in order to discourage escape but Barani apparently had the system figured out. T-shirts are no longer given to the orangs.