Kansas City Zoo: Chimps Fashioned Ladder To Escape Enclosure

The Kansas City Zoo went into lockdown yesterday after seven chimpanzees managed to escape the confines of their enclosure, experiencing a taste of the world normally kept beyond their reach. Although each of the animals were eventually lured back without incident, new details on just how they got out make clear that their bid for freedom was no accident.

According to zoo staff, one of the 12 chimps on exhibit used a remarkable bit of ingenuity so that he and the others could scale the wall put there to keep them in -- fashioning a makeshift tool just for the job.

"One of our chimpanzees was able to break roughly a six foot tree limb that was then used as a ladder to climb on top of the outdoor enclosure wall," says zoo spokeswoman Julie Neemeyer in an email to the Daily News. "That chimp then enticed six other chimps to join the first chimp."

click to play video

By manipulating other objects help them overcome the unnatural conditions of their captivity, it's hard not suspect that these primates and humans have much more in common than just tool-making skills -- and that at the core, we share a simple desire to be free.