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

      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.