MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A monkey made a brief escape at the Memphis Zoo on Friday, but remained close to his exhibit and was caught, the zoo said.

The male colobus monkey, named Rajesh “Raj” Koothrappali, PhD, bent the door on his transport crate as he was being taken from his night house to the zoo hospital, the zoo said.

Zoo employees put up a secure perimeter and closed off the area to guests. Raj was anesthetized, allowing his safe recapture, they said.

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The zoo is closely monitoring Raj to make sure he is OK, they said.

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This apparently isn’t Raj’s first escape — the Louisville Zoo confirmed that this monkey is the same Raj who escaped their zoo back in 2022.

In case you are wondering about Raj’s PhD credentials, he was named after a fictional character on the CBS television series “The Big Bang Theory.”

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