| You start by thinking they are all monkeys, but then discover
there are many families of creatures rather than just the one. We are all
familiar with the apes, chimpanzees and gorillas, but there are also other
groups. These are guenons. As with many of the animals at the zoo they
are classed as vulnerable, mainly because of loss of habitat. |  |
 | The next category up
is endangered and these golden bellied mangabeys fall into that category. The
zoo has been quite successful at breeding animals like these and even
reintroducing them into the wild. They are very attractive and I could see
how they would become endangered. |
| Even more colourful are mandrills. It is the males which have the coloration. The females are more drab, as is the case with many species in
the animal kingdom. |  |
 | I may not be
zoologically correct in including lemurs, but they look similar to me. They
always seem to have such sad eyes, and their ringed tails go on for ever. |
| I just couldn't get a face shot of this shaggy coated colobus
monkey. Again this was the male, leader of the pack. The shaggy coat makes
him look a lot bigger than he actually is. |  |
 | Bonobos are pygmy
chimpanzees and are very gregarious, seeming to spend most of their time in
close proximity to one another. |
| You can just see the baby bonobo clinging to mother's front as they move
away. The zoo has been successful at breeding these and there are notes on the
characters of each of the animals. They are very different to one another. |  |
 | The giants of the
family are the gorillas. This is a giant silverback male and the clear
leader of the pack. He is also a star performer as we saw at feeding time.
He really did know how to play the audience with some wonderful facial
expressions. |
| Another of the quite substantial family group. Other members of
the family were on loan to other zoos around the world to help maintain a
breeding diversity. |  |
 | This is one of the
younger ones. There was quite a substantial group present. |
| This shaggy orangutan is huge, weighing over 300lb. Another male
and head of the clan, but he looks like a mobile shaggy rug. They are also endangered but have been bred quite
successfully in captivity, especially here in San Diego. |  |
 | So is this a family
conference? They look almost human in their expressions, which of course was
the cause of much of their downfall in the wild. |
|