London — At London Zoo, you can talk to the animals - and now some of them talk back.
Caged and barely clothed within a rocky enclosure, eight British men and women monkeyed around Friday for an amused, bemused crowd behind a sign reading "Warning: Humans in their Natural Environment."
The captives in the Human Zoo exhibit sunned themselves on a rock ledge, clad in bathing suits and pinned-on fig leaves. Some played with hula hoops, some waved. A signboard informed visitors about the species' diet, habitat, worldwide distribution and threats.
Visitors stopped to point and laugh, and several children could be heard asking "why are there people in there?"
London Zoo spokeswoman Polly Wills said that's exactly the question the zoo wants to answer.
"Seeing people in a different environment, among other animals : teaches members of the public that the human is just another primate," Wills said. It also, she conceded, lets them "have a gawk at people."
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