Orangutan escapes Australian zoo enclosure

A curious Sumatran orangutan has startled visitors after escaping her Perth Zoo enclosure on Sunday, the second escape in an Australian zoo in as many weeks.

The ape, five-year-old female Teliti, briefly explored the boardwalk area before returning to the orangutan building, where zoo keepers ushered her into a secure holding area, Australia's national broadcaster reported on Monday.

Zoo staff said Teliti might have used a shade sail to jump from the exhibit she shares with her mother, an unusual behavior for an orangutan.

"They would normally swing or climb, but jumping is quite an unusual behavior," Perth Zoo spokeswoman Danielle Henry said.

Henry said Teliti did not threaten any visitors while giving them a bit of a closer encounter than what they were expecting.

The zoo's primate supervisor Holly Thompson described Teliti as a very gregarious and curious youngster.

"Like a lot of adventurous five-year-olds, she has taken the opportunity to test her boundaries, but soon realized it was preferable with her orangutan colony," she said.

On July 12, an adventurous young orangutan named Malu escaped his enclosure into the public area of the Melbourne Zoo, forcing visitors to be evacuated and the zoo into lock-down.

At the time, keepers used treats to keep him calm after a brief stroll through the public area, before the ape was tranquilized.

"It escaped by using (his) blanket as leverage to break the top wire of its enclosure," zoo visitor Justine Cowling told Fairfax Media at the time. "It pulled itself up and out and walked along the roof of the enclosure." Endi