San Francisco Zoo: Wise Old Man

Last week, one of my dreams came true and I got to go to the San Francisco Zoo with a camera!!! What a day it was!! I came home with hundreds of pictures taken on my trusty old Canon SX30 IS super zoom camera, and that night I presented my favorite collage of my trip to SF, brimming with animals of all sorts! I promised that I'd show larger versions when I got home, and I finally had some time to work on a few!

Here is one of my favorite pictures of the day. This gorgeous chimpanzee was sitting up on a platform, just hanging out and eyeing the crowd. I was very awed by this fellow and tried to be as respectful as I could while I silently took pictures, using submissive body language, eyes down with slow movements. I'm not sure what I was doing correctly but this lovely ape kept looking directly at me, though there were many others watching and taking pictures. When I moved, the chimpanzee followed me with its eyes, not the others. An uncanny, amazing and unforgettable experience, I find his expression to be both curious and profoundly sad. :( You may be surprised to learn that this specific eye contact happened to me more than once with other primates there! It was amazing to me.