by Marla O’Donnell (caregiver)

Today I walked into the chimp house to find Topo sitting quietly on a bench by himself. I noticed that he had a one of those old-time plastic cameras in his hands. He was fiddling with the buttons and was examining it closely. I couldn’t help but stand aside and watch him. He first held the camera against the window outside the enclosure, he then set it down on the window sill gently; he waited and then picked it up again. At that moment, he held the camera against his forehead for about 20 seconds and then looked at it again, shook it, put it on the bench and walked away. The expression on his face was if he was thinking “I know I have seen them use this thing before!”