Orangutan (October)

They’re smart and fit. They’re redheads. They ‘escape’ their enclosures frequently, as opportunity arises. Jumping the weedy abyss, cavorting along railings, they go where the grass is greener, down where zoo visitors eat ice-creams in the sun. They’re gregarious. That they have ‘escaped’ is unknown to them. All these cages of birds, it’s not like Kalimantan. What do they know? How far would they go from home? Do they check the weather for October on their iPhones? Anything we say is mostly projection. Zoologists and animal psychologists offer insights and guesswork. On many matters they admit they just don’t know.