“A good zoo," Stella said, "is a large domain. A wild cage. A safe place to be. It has room to roam and humans who don't hurt." She pauses, considering her words. "A good zoo is how humans make amends.”

“Don't be so sure,' Cassie said. 'We're fighting for Mother Earth. She has some tricks up her sleeves.''Good grief,' Marco said. 'Let's all buy Birkenstocks and go hug some trees.”

“All day, I watch humans scurry from store to store. They pass their green paper, dry as old leaves and smelling of a thousand hands, back and forth and back again.They hunt frantically, stalking, pushing, grumbling. Then they leave, clutching bags filled with things - bright things, soft things, big things - but no matter how full the bags, they always come back for more. Humans are clever indeed. They spin pink clouds you can eat. They build domains with flat waterfalls.But they are lousy hunters.”

“Humans. Sometimes they make chimps look smart.”

“My visitors are often surprised when they see the TV Mack put in my domain. They seem to find it odd, the sight of a gorilla staring at tiny humans in a box. Sometimes I wonder, though: Isn't the way they stare at me, sitting in my tiny box, just as strange?”

“I was born in a place humans call central Africa, in a dense rain forest so beautiful, no crayons could ever do it justice.”

“Humans waste words. They toss them like banana peels and leave them to rot. Everyone knows the peels are the best part.”