On the Loose
Friday, January 29, 2010 at 9:30AM
[chuck] in Other, Pontianak, oranghutan

This from the Kebun Binatang (zoo) in Pontianak.  On one of our Sunday visits in the early 1990's, we noticed that a baby oranghutan (Pongo pygmaeus) had gotten out of the cage and was gleefully running around the grounds - and getting a lot of handouts from the visitors. [NOTE: The zoo in Pontianak never had enough money to operate, and several zoo animals (e.g. a sun bear, Helarctus malayanus) actually starved to death during my time in West Kalimantan.  Maybe letting the animals out of the cages to interface with the public was a strategy for getting them fed (sigh).]  

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