Sharyn Horowitz << back to resume

Project: Chimpanzee Exhibit

Client: Los Angeles Zoo, via contract with CLRDesign

Role: Writer, Schematic Design Preliminary Script

Challenge: Engage & inform visitors

If you're happy and you know it, purse your lips!

Chimpanzees use their voices and bodies to share what they know and how they feel. Researchers have identified 34 distinct calls, from screams of surprise to squeaks of fear. Pant-hoots are used for many reasons, similar to our "Hey!" Chimpanzees hug when they're excited or need reassurance. They kiss to comfort or to show respect.

A smile is not a smile

As a rule, the more teeth you can see, the more upset the chimpanzee is. Here are some chimpanzee faces. Can you tell how they are feeling? Try to make these faces yourself. What do they mean to you?

relaxed	scared or excited	aggressive	playful

Chimpanzees in Danger

When people and wild animals both need land, the ones with the chainsaws usually win. It's a tragedy for the chimpanzees, who can't simply move to another place. Over generations, through trial and error, groups of chimpanzees develop skills for survival in their particular habitat. When that habitat is destroyed, the chimpanzees have nowhere else to go.

Visit the Los Angeles Zoo site and CLRdesign, the firm that hired me to do the script.