Monkey Business

This morning I took the boys to the zoo as the weather was cooler and school is back in session, so I expected it to be less crowded then it usually is. I was right in my thinking and we had a very enjoyable time. Most of the animals that we saw were out and visible and most of the primates were in a playful mood. When we got to the chimpanzee exhibit, which is a very large enclosure surrounded by full view glass windows, I pulled the double side by side stroller right up to the glass that was the closest to the baby chimp. Kyle was sitting on one side of the stroller, while Jacob was laying flat on the other side with a blanket draped over his canopy to block the sun and allow him to sleep. As soon as we appeared at the window, the chimp that appeared to be the baby’s mother started walking towards us and as she stood face to face with us (only the thickness of the glass separating us), she clearly made the curious pointing gesture to see what was behind the blanket that I had draped over Jacob. I peered down and saw that part of Jacob’s leg was sticking out of the blanket. I opened the rest of the blanket to show the chimp my baby and she looked with a curious turn of her head… She ran back to her baby and started doing tricks on the ropes up above, shortly after the baby chimp followed suit! Right before we left the exhibit, she returned to get one more glimpse of Jacob, it was almost like she understood that he was my baby- a mother to mother appreciation! It was very heart warming, I had never seen such a strong interaction between a zoo animal and zoo goers.