Aline Newman - National Geographic Kids Chapters - Ape Escapes - and More True Stories of Animals Behaving Badly

Finding water was easier. It collects in hollow tree trunks after a rain. Fu might have gotten a drink by scooping water out with a folded leaf. Or maybe he chewed leaves into a sort of sponge. Then he sopped up water and dripped it into his mouth. Either way, Fu used leaves as tools.

Long ago, Indonesian people dubbed these clever apes “orangutans.” In their language the word orang means “person” and utan means “forest.” Together you get “person of the forest.”

One day Fu and his mother heard strange sounds in the swamp. Hunters had entered the jungle. They carried axes and homemade nets on their backs. Rivers of sweat ran down the men’s bare chests. Armies of insects buzzed in their faces. But nothing stopped them. The men were animal collectors. They feed their families by catching and selling wild animals. A baby orangutan will get them a lot of money.

Did Fu’s mother know they wanted her baby? Probably not, but she sensed danger. She swung from limb to limb, snapping off branches. She threw the branches down on the hunters.

(photo credit 1.1)

Orangutans and Tools

Orangutans are the smartest of all the great apes. They learn new things quickly. Because of this, people have spent years studying orangutans and learning more about them. Orangutans have been seen in the wild and in zoos using tools to scratch themselves; cover themselves from the rain; collect water, honey, or bugs for food; swat stinging insects; and spear fish in the water.

The animal collectors looked up. The mother ape looked like a tiny black doll hanging against the blue sky. Was she holding a baby?

The hunters had a traditional way of catching orangutans. They didn’t try to climb up after them. Not at first. That might have spooked the ape into escaping through the treetops. Instead, the animal collectors formed a circle. They pulled out their axes and hacked away at tree trunks.

The ground shook as a tall tree crashed to the forest floor. Then a second one, and a third. The trees were so close together that each one that fell knocked down another. CHOP! CHOP! The men worked their way to the last tree—the one holding the apes.

“Pzz squee.” Fu’s mother squeaked and ran, looking for a way to escape. Seeing none, she moved far out on a limb.

A man climbed way, way up the smooth trunk. He broke off a leafy branch and shook it at her.

Fu’s mother probably did what most orangutans do when cornered by hunters. She smacked her lips. Her black eyes shone with fear. With one man in the tree and more below, she first scrambled up and then down. Up and then down.

Suddenly the scared ape leaped to the ground. With her baby hugging her belly, she ran for her life. But the men ran faster.

The boss hunter yelled. He ordered his men to throw their nets.

SWOOSH! The apes were trapped!

Fu, always the practical joker, loved performing for happy, smiling zoo visitors. (photo credit 1.2)

The animal collectors have gotten what they came for. They carry Fu out of the jungle and ship him to Singapore. They put him up for sale in the marketplace. Except for his fur, the little red ape looks much like a human baby. An American man has come to buy animals for a zoo in Louisiana. He likes the look of Fu. The American has already spent a lot of money on rare parrots, monkeys, pythons, and crocodiles. Now he buys Fu.

Fu spends three years in Louisiana. Then he is sent to Omaha, Nebraska.

In the wild, Fu swung from branches and hung from vines. Thumbs on his feet as well as his hands helped him hang on. Sometimes he went two weeks without touching the ground.

Life is different in a zoo. Soon after Fu arrives in Omaha, the zookeepers build a large, modern Great Ape House. But only a few trees grow in the Ape House yard. They are nothing like the giant trees that grow packed together in the rain forest. Fu can’t build a sleeping nest in them. There is no tangled jungle for him to learn his way around. But the most important difference is food. Here a zookeeper brings him supper in a bowl. Fu does not need to find his own meals. He does not need to memorize 1,000 different kinds of plants like his mom did.

Like a bored kid in school, Fu turns his mind to other things. When a tree dies in his yard, Fu pulls it apart. He gathers up two chunks of wood and sets them against the building. They make a ramp that he can climb.

“There’s an ape on the roof!” shouts a zoo visitor.

Dr. Simmons rushes to the scene. “Fu,” he orders, hands on his hips. “Come down from there.”

Fu ignores him. The naughty ape scrambles across the roof and wraps his hairy arms around the chimney. CAARACK! He tears it off the roof and flings it over the edge!

That does it. Zookeeper Jerry Stones has had enough. Maybe he can help the bored ape stay out of trouble. He will give Fu something to swing on.

Jerry goes inside the orangutan’s cage and hangs a chain from one wall to another. Fu sits quietly in a corner and pretends not to notice, but the tricky ape is secretly watching the whole time.

Looks good , Jerry thinks, when he finishes. He packs up his tools and leaves, banging the door behind him.

The next morning Jerry returns to admire his work. But when he enters the ape house, he just stands there in shock! The steel chain he had so carefully hung lies in a pile on the floor. Fu stands beside it—holding the screws in his fist.

Grumbling, Jerry rehangs the chain. Then he pulls out his hammer. WHAM! He flattens the end of each screw.

Not even Fu can take them out now , he thinks.

A month goes by. Jerry forgets the mischief. He goes to the Ape House to give Fu some monkey biscuits and … gasp! The heavy chain lies on the floor like a broken necklace. How on earth?

Fu was sneaky. He must have spent weeks turning those screws when no one was looking.

“Doggone it, Fueey,” mutters Jerry. He grabs a ladder and tools.

CLATTER! CLANK! BANG! Jerry hangs the chain for the third time.

Fu is naughty all right, but he is also kind. On another day Dr. Simmons and a second man are working together inside Fu’s cage. The floor is wet. The other man slips and sticks out his hand to catch himself. He accidentally touches the big picture window that separates Fu from zoo visitors.

ZAP!

An electric shock knocks the man across the room. He lands curled up on the floor.

Fu rushes to help. First, he looks over the shaken man for injuries. Then he straightens out the man’s finger. Finally, he leads him to the window.

The window is electrified to keep Fu from smudging the glass. But one little strip is safe to touch, and Fu knows it. The smart ape places the man’s finger there. It is like he is saying, “Next time, touch here. Then you won’t get hurt.”

Fu made zoo officials want more apes like him. But the Indonesian government passed a law protecting orangutans. Catching, killing, and selling them was illegal. That left one solution. They had to find Fu a girl orangutan.

Zookeepers put Fu and another orangutan named “Tondelayo” together. The two apes hit it off right away, but Tondelayo doesn’t like Jerry. She paces and her lips tighten whenever he enters their cage. He feels uneasy around her.