Visitors to the Belfast Zoo, Northern Ireland, capture the incredible footage, as if taken from the movie "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" (see video below).
At first they were surprised that one primate was already sitting on the top of the large concrete wall that enclosed the chimpanzee enclosure, and then they saw how the second chimpanzee, using a tree branch skillfully leaning against the wall, climbed up the same wall.
A little later, the same family stumbled upon two escaped chimpanzees, freely walking outside the enclosure. According to them, "huge chimpanzees just came out from behind the bushes" a few steps away from people.
Adult chimpanzees, especially males, are not cute little monkeys that can be seen in circuses or TV shows, but muscular and very strong animals that often show signs of aggression and can easily kill an adult with punches or fangs.
Fortunately, these zoo chimpanzees did not show aggression towards humans, but simply walked or looked at them. After the humans saw the monkeys escape, Monaghan says it was the most amazing thing they've ever seen.
Daniel Monaghan, who was able to capture a video of the chimpanzee's escape, came to the zoo with partner Dean McFaul, his 4-year-old niece and two children, 8-year-old Grace and 6-year-old Leo.
Later on the same chimpanzees came the Baxter family, also with a small child, and the child was frightened by the chimpanzee, screaming loudly. This could cause an aggressive attack from the animal, but it turned out on the contrary, the chimpanzee, as if frightened himself, backed away from the people and began to leave towards the enclosure.
According to the zoo keepers, chimpanzees have surprisingly cleverly used a thick branch of a tree that was torn off or weakened during a recent storm to build a ladder from it. Later, after a walk, all the monkeys returned back to their enclosure, since, in all likelihood, they did not know where to go next and were afraid of unfamiliar territories.
Now the zoo keepers have locked the chimpanzee in one of the inner rooms and are thinking about how to get into the enclosure and remove the ladder branch or break it into smaller branches.
