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(#9) He Would Steal Things From Zoo Workers
When he couldn't manage to climb out of his pen using his strength, Ken Allen would resort to using tools. If he couldn't find a tool, he wasn't above stealing one.
In one attempted escape, he stole a five-foot-long window squeegee and used it to climb over his enclosure's wall and get out. He once even managed to get his hands on a crowbar, which he used to pry open the window of his pen. For this reason, zoo workers were instructed to never leave anything in his pens, but it only made Ken Allen get more creative as he was not about to be deterred.
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(#12) He Inspired A Hit Song
As news of the crafty orangutan spread, Ken Allen became something of a sensation. One person who took notice was San Diego psychiatrist Dennis Gersten. In 1985, he heard about the orangutan, wrote down a song about him in the span of about 10 minutes, and then went to a studio to record it. He named it the "Ballad of Ken Allen," and the jingle took off. It spoke of Ken's escapes, his life, and even his spiritual quest for freedom, and people in Southern California absolutely loved it. For several years, the single of was sold at the zoo, and the song was performed live on TV by Gersten himself. While it might sound rather dated now, you can still find the tune on YouTube.
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(#2) He Used Tools (And Guile) To Get Out Of His Cage
Most of these escapes involved him carefully climbing out, despite electrical fencing, but he sometimes got more creative. Ken would use tools and even accomplices. When he did escape, he would sometimes just wait to be put back in, almost as if he just enjoyed the act of the escape
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(#8) The Zoo Spent Thousands Of Dollars To Keep Him Enclosed
With Ken Allen's continued proclivity for escapes, the San Diego Zoo realized they had to make special efforts to keep him behind bars. In addition to building extensive, costly modifications to his enclosures, they also ramped up security. Unfortunately, by this time Ken Allen could recognize zookeepers by their uniforms, and would time his escapes when they were not around. The workers resorted to wearing tourist disguises to thwart his attempts.
In the end, the zoo spent a total of $45,000 on security measures for Ken Allen alone. And even then, he still made escape attempts for most of his life.
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(#3) He Began His Escapes At A Young Age
Given Ken Allen's interesting upbringing and childhood habits, it makes total sense he grew up to be an expert at escaping.
He was born in captivity at the San Diego Zoo, and was named in honor of zookeepers Ken Willingham and Ben Allen. Sadly, his mother attempted to smother him when he was young, so he was kept in his own cage through much of his adolescent.
It was later discovered that during this time, he would regularly unscrew the bolts of his cage and just wander around the nursery for fun. These were his first escapes, and he would generally go back to his cage before morning, and put it back together in the hopes that his keepers would be none the wiser. These youthful escapes were just the warmup round for what he would manage to pull off later.
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(#10) He Enlisted Other Orangutans For Help
When he found escaping was too difficult to do alone, Ken Allen wasn't above getting some accomplices. One time Ken got ahold of a crowbar, and then tossed it to another orangutan near him who used it to pry open a window and let him out. The pen was repaired and security was beefed up, but this was not the last time he got help.
Zookeepers tried to distract him from escaping by putting females in his enclosure, but they were just giving him better opportunities. He began teaching them how to escape, and after only a few months together, he managed to get two of the females to successfully help him escape. The two new accomplices, Jane and Kumang, followed him out of the exhibit and went for a stroll. Once all three had been captured, the zookeepers gave up the hope of using females to distract him.
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About This Tool
Sometimes, even the best safety measures are not enough to detain animals. After all, these animals love freedom by nature, and they always try to escape from the zoo. In the animal kingdom, there is an orangutan that seems to have received the true biography of a magician, because it has repeatedly escaped from the zoo and become worldwide famous. Ken Allen is not a human, but a Bornean orangutan from the San Diego Zoo.
Because of its constant escapes, Ken Allen quickly became the most popular star in the zoo. Tourists rushed to watch it in the zoo, some even made T-shirts with its face and wrote songs for it. And the zoo even set up a memorial after its death in 2000. The random tool will help you to know 15 details about the infamous orangutan.
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