A macaque that may have escaped from a zoo ran onto a busy highway, and eluded five traffic officers who failed to catch the mountain animal in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

The macaque was reported on the highway linking Turpan and Urumqi cities on Thursday afternoon, witnesses said.

The creature settled down in a spot on the partition belts between the highway lanes, and appeared to be waving his hands to greet drivers who passed him. And then he started racing with the swiftly passing vehicles.

Witnesses called the local traffic police and five police officers spent about 20 minutes trying to capture the dodging animal, but their efforts failed.

A police officer held out a bottle of green tea to seduce the macaque. He rose to the bait but was seized from behind.

Still, the macaque broke loose from his captors.

The creature was ultimately caught by workers with the Xinjiang Tianshan Mountain Safari Park, where it had lived until its road adventure.

(Xinhua News Agency November 13, 2006)