A red ruffed lemur made a bid for freedom from Artis zoo in Amsterdam early on Monday morning, NOS reports.

The creature, which hails from Madagascar, wandered as far as busy Wibautstraat in the city centre.

It is not known how long the animal roamed the streets. ‘I was called at six this morning when he was held up at the underground car park at Waterlooplein. I jumped in my car and caught him,’ zoo worker Dennis de Haan told the broadcaster.

‘Lemurs are social animals. They usually stick together. But this one really went walkabout,’ surprised zoo workers told NOS.

The lemur was apprehended unharmed, if a little shaken, and taken back to Artis where its cage is being checked for escape routes.

In other Artis news, giraffes and elephants at the zoo are being fed elm branches from a specially grown elm wood, a so-called ‘feeding wood’. The trees were planted in the docklands of the Westelijk Havengebied in 2000 and harvested by students from the Wellant College, who handed them over to Artis staff.

Asian elephants can munch their way through as much as 150 kilos of branches, bark, grass, vegetables and fruit a day.