<p>BERLIN — About two dozen monkeys have broken out of a southwestern German zoo and are roaming the area despite efforts to recapture them, authorities said Thursday.</p>
<p>The Barbary macaques, commonly known as Barbary apes, escaped from the zoo in Loeffingen, southwest of Stuttgart and not far from the Swiss border, the dpa news agency reported. </p>
<p>It was not entirely clear how they got away, but constriction work at the zoo might have been a factor, police said.</p>
<p>The primates were spotted roaming the area in a pack, but zoo employees were unable to recapture them and eventually lost track of them.</p>
<p>Police say the animals tend to be harmless and shy, but that people should not attempt to capture them or approach them otherwise, lest they provoke them.</p>
<p>The Barbary macaque is native to the Atlas Mountains of North Africa and has a small but famous presence across the water in Europe in the British territory of Gibraltar. </p>
