Dodging tranquillizer darts and yelping at his captors, a brazen chimp staged his own version of The Great Escape.

At Ishikawa Zoo, western Japan a 42-year-old chimpanzee named Ichiro led the audacious break-out from his pen and refused to come down from the roof.

At one point the chimp even grabbed the zoo worker's tranquillizer gun, but luckily it fell to the floor. Eventually the chimp was lured with a banana and then sedated.

It is thought the chimp was trying to find shelter from the sweltering heat that Japan has been having. Temperatures are expected to reach 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) on Wednesday (July 23).

(Reuters.com July 24, 2008)