This chimp knew exactly how to interact with visitors at the zoo. He held this empty bottle in his foot and stretched it through the bars toward people until someone took it, filled it up with water, and handed it back to him. Then he took a big swig, naturally.
We could have hung out near the chimps all day, fascinated by how human-like they are. (Don’t we share something like 96 percent of our DNA?)
The chimps made me a bit sad, too. They don’t have much else to do in their pen besides watch the world go by and wait for someone to hand them a snack or fetch them some water. They wait and watch, wait and watch.
Rachael Cullins is a twentysomething American girl living in Dakar, Senegal, with her husband and two dogs. She blogs about her adventures in Senegal and travels elsewhere in West Africa. She will reside in Dakar until summer 2013, when she and her family will move to another foreign post as part of her husband’s career with the U.S. government. In addition to West Africa, she has traveled to France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Italy and Costa Rica and plans to continually add to that list.
