In Hamburg, Germany is an old, established zoo with a distinction. It is the first major zoo to put animals into outdoor settings, many reminiscent of the animals' natural environment. I remember a visit there with my mother when I was ten years old.

What makes this visit so memorable is a meeting I had there. It was my first visit to a major zoo and the many animals I had known only from books fascinated me. But none more than the bonobo. I had not heard of bonobos before and now I found out that they are members of the great ape family, relatives of the Orang Utang and the Gorilla and the Chimpanzee.

Bonobos are also the most human-like. Maybe the best known is Kanzi who understands several thousand spoken English words and knows and uses over 350 lexigrams (word signs).

Later in my life I met many more animals face to face, so to speak, who are considered wild animals.

Such as the Bighorn Sheep I encountered on Mt. Evans in Colorado. Margo and I were walking around Summit Lake when a Bighorn Sheep sauntered over to inspect us. It then decided to walk next to me like an obedient dog all the way back to our parked car.

Another time, again on Mt. Evans, we had lunch at the edge of the drop off to the Chicago Lakes. Here we were joined by two mountain goats who settled down on a small rock bank not more than thirty feet away, obviously fascinated by what we were doing in their living room.

Sam the lioness lived with a friend of ours in Denver, Colorado. She could never understand why she couldn't sit in my lap; she sure tried hard every time we got together.

Why was the young bear at Mesa Verde Nat. Park so interested in us. He visited our motor home without fear. And one night, while getting the amphitheater ready for my evening talk, I found him sitting on the visitor bench waiting for me.

One day, a deer who was a steady visitor, started to climb the steps leading into our motor home. A ranger friend sitting next to the entrance door was so startled by the sudden appearance of a deer next to him that he spilled half of his coffee.

From 1993 to 2000 we parked our motor home on BLM land north of Yuma, Arizona during the winter. And again, wild animals became our friends. Burros visited to show off their new foals. A cactus wren arrived every afternoon to pay her respect, walking unconcerned among our chairs.

All these encounters, and there were many more, left me with a feeling that there is more complexity to an animal's psyche than we think.

My encounter with the bonobo, however, was very different. He looked at me with more than intelligence in his eyes. There was recognition. We had a common ancestor somewhere in the far distant past.