Someone put a large tropical bird in the monkey house at the
Boise zoo. It squawks loudly from time to time, sending the
family of gibbons next door leaping through the ropes and tree
limbs of their dwelling. Zookeepers call this “enrichment,”
activities that stimulate animals in ways that imitate life in
the wild. There are a great many other creatures great and small
at Zoo Boise, from legless lizards and Komodo dragons, to the
native squirrels and geese that roam the grounds, teasing the
snow leopards and bobcats into stalking mode. Each animal has a
role in nature. When things calm down at the Monkey House, young
Li Bao, a female gibbon who was born at the zoo, once again
tussles with her parents, who loll about a lot more than the
youngster. It is easy to become emotionally attached to this
troupe of primates, to wonder what they are thinking and how
similar their feelings must be to ours. Li Bao’s mother
abandoned her for a period of time when she was born. Because
the mother had never seen a Gibbon rai