08/02/2026
This orangutan was the "Houdini" of the animal kingdom. He escaped his maximum-security enclosure three times... just to go sightseeing.
Ken Allen lived at the San Diego Zoo, and he became a legend for constantly outsmarting his keepers.
When he escaped, he didn't run wild or attack anyone. He would just peacefully stroll down the public paths looking at the other animals like he was a visitor.
Well, except for one guy. Ken had a bitter rivalry with another orangutan named Otis. Whenever Ken escaped, he would make a special detour to Otis’s cage just to throw rocks at him.
The zoo was baffled. They raised the walls. They added electric wires. They even dressed staff up as tourists to spy on him to try and figure out how he was escaping, but Ken wasn't fooled, he would just sit and stare at them until they left.
Desperate, the zoo actually hired professional rock climbers to scale the enclosure walls to find every single tiny finger-hold Ken might be using. They shaved the walls completely smooth.
It didn't matter. Ken still got out. He eventually became so popular that the zoo started selling "Free Ken Allen" t-shirts.
