BERLIN (AP) About two dozen monkeys broke out of a southwestern German zoo and spent the day lolling in the sun near a forest before being recaptured, authorities said Thursday.

The Barbary macaques, commonly known as Barbary apes, escaped from the zoo in Loeffingen, southwest of Stuttgart and not far from the Swiss border. It was not entirely clear how they got away, but construction work at the zoo might have been a factor, police said.

The primates were spotted roaming the area in a pack, but zoo employees were unable to recapture them and eventually lost track of them.

A few hours later they were spotted, recaptured and returned to their cages without incident, police said.

The animals apparently took advantage of the nice weather and spent the afternoon on the edge of a forest near the zoo, police said.

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.