There's a local story about a gorilla at the NC Zoo almost escaping on Sunday. Evidently, strong storms resulted in a tree branch landing in the gorilla area. A female lowland gorilla named Acacia attempts (almost successfully) to use the branch to climb over the wall. This video has captured my attention because it shows how intelligent she is, at the same reinforcing how sad it is that she's captive.
I don't think I can embed the video, but here's the link:
http://www.myfox8.com/...
The video is just over 6 minutes long, but some interesting parts are:
Very beginning: shows how close she got to escaping
1:30 She appears so bummed out that she's still captive with all the crazy humans staring and screaming at her
2:20 She appears to be looking for a better place to position the branch (preferably away from the crazy humans)
2:30-4:00 Contemplates her next move
5:00 Her next attempt to use the branch to climb the wall, leading to ...
5:07 when the branch breaks.
5:21 she carefully examines the broken branch (and must be really bummed that her one chance for freedom is gone).
I'll end this by saying that I'm certainly no expert on gorillas, or zoos, or animals in captivity, and I realize I've projected human emotions onto what I think she could be thinking/doing. I thought you might find this video interesting.