Laurie was on assignment, to learn about monkeys and the great apes for an upcoming article in our local newspaper The Enterprise. So we headed to the Southwick Zoo.

Brother Shawn and Maeghan tagged along to see the sights--some rather up close, like this giraffe who insisted on being fed, despite the "Don't Feed the Giraffes" sign.

When we spotted the lemurs in their compound we thought we were on the right track to finding the chimps.

But the next pen was the rhinocerous; and there didn't seem to be any point to monkeying around with him!

Next we came upon this magnificent elk. But still no sign of the chimps.

Rounding this end of the zoo, we came upon the emus. If these creatures aren't a good argument for the relationship between birds and dinosaurs, I don't know what else would fit the bill.

When we reached the llamas we knew we must be getting close. After all, we had been to almost every part of the zoo, except the restrooms.

Finally, we met the creature we were most interested in--the chimpanzees. Only one of them was awake (well, I would have been napping by now too if I had a place to lie down), but he was alert and as interested in observing us as we were in observing him.