Great Escapes
• In the early 1930s, the aoudads – a horned wild sheep from northern Africa – routinely escaped from their habitat to munch the flower beds.  A new structure and moat were built to prevent this from happening but proved to be no match for the curious sheep.  On move-in day, all 20 aoudads formed a single-file line and began circling the perimeter of their habitat.  On the third lap, one by one, they jumped the fence with ease.  After all were outside, the aoudads stayed together and looked around wondering what to do next.  The rock wall at their point of escape was made taller and they never made it out again.
• In 1972, a chimpanzee knocked out a plywood panel in a holding area of the Holden Amphitheater.  Immediately, seven chimps walked across a ladder that had been left by painters to bridge the moat and up the rows of bleacher seats.  The Zoo’s director and a curator were stunned to see Danny the chimpanzee and two baby chimps strolling hand-in-hand up the mall road against pedestrian traffic.  The Zoo officials calmly ordered the chimps back to their quarters.
• In the 1980s, a zookeeper went to the airport to pick up a chimpanzee that had been transported from another zoo.  Obviously unhappy about its travel accommodations, the vocal chimp broke out of its wooden crate during the car ride and climbed into the front seat.  The surprised keeper and his hairy passenger made it to the Detroit Zoo in record time.
• Fear of escaped wolverines spread through the Detroit Zoo one winter after a heavy snow.  No tracks had been left on the fresh white powder and keepers could not figure out how the animals could dig through the gunite floor of their habitat.  Worry was dismissed when a fuzzy wolverine head poked through the white stuff.  The animals had built a labyrinth of tunnels beneath the unstirred snow.

To Catch a Thief
• Blackie, a talking mynah bird, was stolen twice in the 1950s from the Belle Isle Zoo.  Upon his second return, it was clear he had picked up some colorful language.  Blackie had to be removed from the earshot of children until all profanity was forgotten.
• In 1962, a baby kangaroo was stolen from the Belle Isle Children’s Zoo.   The thief got away but the joey was apprehended hours later after bounding into a suburban appliance store 20 miles away.

Animal Anecdotes
• When Baboon Rock was being rebuilt in 1953, construction workers found that the inhabitants had stashed away a trove of treasures.  In one area, a baboon had accumulated 96 cents, assorted earrings, bright jewelry, baubles and other possessions.  Another location contained a collection of prizes from Cracker Jack boxes.
• During the same year, keepers at the Belle Isle Zoo found a man curled up with Lucy the camel early one morning.  His recollection of the previous night was foggy, but he knew his attempt to sleep with Sheba the elephant had been forcefully rejected – and he had the bruises and abrasions to prove it.
• During the 1968 World Series, a city-to-city bet was made – one Missouri mule to the Detroit Zoo if the Cardinals lost and one Detroit tiger to the St. Louis Zoo if the hometown succumbed.  The Tigers were victorious thanks to the pitching of Mickey Lolich, and the Zoo named their prize Little Lolich after the hometown hero.
• Zoo Director Ron Kagan once took a small box to a meeting with Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer and the city’s budget officials.  In the box was a poison dart frog, a tiny amphibian with the power to kill.  Released on the table, the little frog started hopping, and so did the humans in the room.  Kagan assured his practical-joke victims that the frog was harmless because it had not been fed the kind of food necessary to produce its poison.  Kagan got the budget money for the Zoo and the frog was returned to its quarters.

First, Biggest, Best
• The first animal purchased for the Wolverine State’s big-city Zoo was that very creature.
• The Detroit Zoo was the first zoo in America to use moated habitats that showed animals in a natural setting.
• At the time of its opening in 1968, the Penguinarium was the country’s only facility dedicated solely to penguins.
• The famous “Zoo Stars” TV commercial, created in 1982 by Doner, won every national advertising award at the time, including the coveted CLIO, and an adapted version of the spot was used by more than 25 other zoos around the country.
• The Wildlife Interpretive Gallery has the only permanent fine art gallery inside of a zoo.
• The Arctic Ring of Life is North America’s largest polar bear exhibit and offers guests an underwater view of swimming bears and seals through a 70-foot Polar Passage.
• The Detroit Zoo’s Adopt-a-Garden program is the largest at any zoo in the United States.
• The Detroit Zoo and Michigan Humane Society’s annual Meet Your Best Friend at the Zoo event is the nation’s largest off-site companion animal adoption program.  Since the event’s inception in 1993, nearly 14,000 dogs, cats and rabbits have been placed into new homes. 

The Detroit Zoological Society is a non-profit organization that operates the Detroit Zoo and Belle Isle Nature Zoo.  Situated on 125 acres of naturalistic exhibits, the Detroit Zoo is located at the intersection of Ten Mile Road and Woodward Avenue, just off I-696, in Royal Oak.  The Detroit Zoo is open daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. April through October (open at 9:30 a.m. Memorial Day through Labor Day) – with extended hours until 8 p.m. Wednesdays during July and August – and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. November through March.  Admission is $11 for adults 13 to 61, $9 for senior citizens 62 and older, and $7 for children ages 2 to 12; children under 2 are free.  For more information, call (248) 541-5717 or visit www.detroitzoo.org.  The Belle Isle Nature Zoo is open daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. year-round and provides educational programming with interpretive staff support from the Huron-Clinton Metroparks.  For more information, call (313) 852-4056.

###