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National Geographic Kids Chapters: Ape Escapes: and More True Stories of Animals Behaving Badly
Aline Alexander Newman
National Kids Geographic
This is the first in a series of 4 books that will tell the true and hilarious stories of animals that love hijinks. In this book you'll meet 3 naughty animals, including Fu Manchu, the orangutan escape artist.Fu Manchu lived at the Omaha Zoo and would routinely break out of his habitat to explore the zoo on a nice day. Zookeepers were baffled as to how the ape was escaping, until one day they caught him in the act. Fu Manchu knew how to pick locks. Not only that, he had created his own tool that he used to pick the locks with, which he would store in his mouth so as not to be found out. This and two other charming stories will engage readers and leave them wondering if humans are really the smartest animals.
Copyright © 2012 National Geographic Society
All rights reserved. Reproduction of the whole or any part of the contents without written permission from the publisher is prohibited.
Published by the National Geographic Society
John M. Fahey, Jr., Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
Timothy T. Kelly, President
Declan Moore, Executive Vice President; President, Publishing and Digital Media
Melina Gerosa Bellows, Executive Vice President; Chief Creative Officer, Books, Kids, and Family
Prepared by the Book Division
Hector Sierra, Senior Vice President and General Manager
Nancy Laties Feresten, Senior Vice President, Editor in Chief, Children’s Books
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Eva Absher-Schantz, Managing Art Director, Children’s Books
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Staff for This Book
Becky Baines, Project Editor
Lisa Jewell, Illustrations Editor
Eva Absher, Art Director
Ruthie Thompson, Designer
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Hillary Moloney, Illustrations Assistant
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eISBN: 978-1-4263-0957-1
v3.1
Version: 2017-07-05
CONTENTS
Cover (#u54a7e802-49a3-5631-ab63-216cfb7ee4c7)
Title Page (#ufce4648c-273a-5164-82a0-e86783999a1c)
Copyright (#uf719b2ef-6376-5689-8a99-bc4f9f1003f2)
FU MANCHU: Ape Escapes! (#u84b1b5a0-90f5-534d-a387-1c1fa689875e)
Chapter 1: A Scamp Is Born (#u83b3dc05-2ed3-5860-85fc-36995da61f5d)
Chapter 2: Hero Prankster (#u5e42bba2-5c8a-562f-8aec-85bf385783d8)
Chapter 3: Wise Guy Ape (#litres_trial_promo)
PEGGY: The Mischievous Pup (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 1: Bad Puppy (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 2: Emergency! (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 3: Good Dog (#litres_trial_promo)
OLIVIA: The Cat Burglar (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 1: Wanted! (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 2: Stop, Thief! (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 3: “Stolen” Treasure (#litres_trial_promo)
DON’T MISS! (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 1: Call For Help (#litres_trial_promo)
More Information (#litres_trial_promo)
Dedication (#litres_trial_promo)
Credits (#litres_trial_promo)
Acknowledgments (#litres_trial_promo)
FU MANCHU: APE ESCAPES!
Fu as a 250-pound (114 kg) “pasha.” A pasha is a full-grown male with cheek pads. (photo credit p1.1) (#litres_trial_promo)
In the wild, baby orangutans like this one stay with their moms eight years or more. (photo credit p1.2) (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 1A SCAMP IS BORN
July 1965, Omaha, Nebraska
A young orangutan peers out of his cage at the Henry Doorly Zoo. No humans are in sight. The coast is clear.
He sticks his long fingers through the chain-link fence. He bends back one corner. He pulls. ZZIIIIP! The stiff metal fencing unravels like a hand-knit scarf.
Some time later, veterinarian Lee Simmons arrives at work. He rounds a bend in the path and yikes! Dr. Simmons stops in his tracks. It couldn’t be, but it is. A shaggy, red-haired ape sits up in a tree. How did he get loose?
The ape is about six years old, tailless, and weighs 100 pounds (45 kg). He has a mustache and beard like a famous movie character. For that reason he is called Fu Manchu. Fu’s arms are super strong and longer than most fourth graders are tall. In a wrestling match against a man, the orangutan would win.
The ape doesn’t move or make a sound. But Dr. Simmons sees a twinkle in his eyes. The vet can’t help but wonder if Fu knew what he was doing. It’s likehe’s been sitting there just waiting for me.
Fu climbs down. The sun sparkles on his red hair as he scrambles back to his cage. Dr. Simmons follows, shaking his head. What a crazy ape! He locks Fu inside. He calls someone to fix the fence and then goes about his normal business. And Fu goes about his—dreaming up more hijinks to come.
Fu was born in a rain forest on the Indonesian island of Sumatra (sounds like SUE-MAH-TRA). Like most baby orangutans, Fu probably never knew his father. Orangutan mothers care for their helpless babies. Fu’s mother nursed him. She held him and snuggled him. Every night she built them a nest high in the treetops.
These sleeping nests were the size of bathtubs. Fu’s mother made them by twisting leafy branches together. Each fresh, new nest must have felt as comfy to Fu as clean bedsheets do to you.
Usually Fu and his mom stayed dry in their cozy bed in the sky. At other times thunder boomed. Rain fell in sheets. Then the apes huddled together and turned giant leaves into umbrellas.
During the day, Fu often rode on his mother’s back. He clutched her hair as they swung through the trees looking for durian (sounds like DUR-EE-ANN) fruits. Durian fruits stink like sweaty gym socks. But orangutans go ape for the smelly stuff.
The problem is durian fruits don’t all ripen at the same time, and the trees are scattered. To find them, orangutans must keep a map of the forest inside their heads. For Fu’s mother it must have been like memorizing a school bus route with hundreds of stops.
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) (#litres_trial_promo)
Orangutans and Tools
