Primates

Dozens of animal lovers and academics communed up close with chimpanzees at the Los Angeles Zoo on Sunday morning, peeking behind the scenes of their modern exhibit and wending their way through play areas under the apes' watchful eyes. The tour of the Chimpanzees of Mahale Mountains exhibit, which opened eight years ago, was part of a weekend conference on chimpanzees organized in part by the Jane Goodall Institute, with Goodall delivering talks and checking out the chimps' quarters.

"The first thing I'm going to give you is a chimpanzee greeting, because it sounds lovely in a place like this," said Jane Goodall while looking out from a stage in Griffith Park across a meadow containing 1,000 people. Her voice started off soft and low: "Oooo, oooo, oooo...." Then her voice rose: "Hooo, hooo, HOOO! HOOO!" She finished with a smile, leaving her audience stunned for a second before they burst into applause.

An endangered primate at the Sacramento Zoo died unexpectedly last month. Jimmy, a 13-year-old golden-bellied mangabey, collapsed Dec. 29; veterinarians were unable to revive him, zoo officials said Thursday. Little is known about mangabeys, but they are thought to live in a small area in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The primates are considered endangered because of poaching and habitat loss. There are 19 golden-bellied mangabeys in North American zoos.

It's the eyes. Sometimes blue and fierce, blazing with pain, at others brown and gentle, looking for love. But always they are expressive. They have gazed down from the heights of a movie screen for years now, though rarely from the same face. While actors always try to shift their appearance from role to role, few are as unrecognizable as Andy Serkis has been. Then again, he's not really known for playing humans.

Paul Frank, who turned the image of a whimsical monkey into the foundation for a global apparel and accessory business bearing his name, has split from the company, it was announced Tuesday. The 38-year-old designer left "to pursue other interests," Costa Mesa-based Paul Frank Industries Inc. said in a statement, declining to elaborate. Frank, who began selling vinyl wallets in Huntington Beach in 1995, could not be reached for comment.

Georgie was bashed in the head and is missing part of his ear. Penny's right hand was mangled in a trap. Tammy's bullet-riddled leg had to be amputated. Golden Arrow was shot dead, leaving her infant to starve to death. The baboons of South Africa's Cape Peninsula are caught in a war with their human neighbors, who are sick of having their kitchens ransacked by marauding primates with an uncanny knack for breaking into houses. "People love them or hate them.

PANAMA CRUISE Gatun Lake in the Panama Canal in a jungle boat and visit a primate reserve on an eco-tour of Panama. The 10-day tours, scheduled to begin April 22, July 1, Aug. 12, Oct. 21 and Dec. 9, include bird-watching in the Chiriqui cloud forests of La Amistad International Park. "Panama is a beautiful country with lots of tropical nature," said Paul Abravaya, the director of Tropical Eco-Tours, Thousand Oaks.

Ollie and Buddy, the chimpanzees shot dead earlier this month after they viciously attacked a couple at a Kern County animal sanctuary, had been retired from show business after having spent their early years working for one of Hollywood's top animal trainers. Their background underscores how tough a business Hollywood can be for chimps these days and how hard it is to find a place for them to live once their performing days are over.

Although wild chimpanzees are very aggressive animals, attacks such as the one that severely injured St. James Davis on Thursday are very rare, experts said Friday. "There are so few [attacks] that when they do happen, they are on CNN," said Carole Noon of the Center for Captive Chimpanzee Care in Florida. Generally, when a chimp escapes its cage, it runs away or goes in search of food or other items.

HAVILAH, Calif. -- St. James and LaDonna Davis raised Moe the chimpanzee as their son. That was the word they used to describe him, and that was how they treated him -- like a hairy, rambunctious child who was a pampered member of the family. They taught him to wear clothes, to take showers, to use the toilet and to watch TV in their West Covina home. They had their picture taken in bed with him.