This is a sketch I did in 2002, with a black ballpoint pen in my visual diary from that time. I sketched from a photo that my father took of this squirrel monkey at Perth Zoo some time in the late 1980’s.

From memory the enclosure was actually quite large, despite how it may seem from this picture. Unfortunately for this little guy, he still has the somewhat ‘depressed’ demeanour exhibited by many zoo animals world-wide. Things have improved since those days, but there’s still a long way to go for many animals. Let’s hope the emphasis on improving enclosures and generally improving the day to day lives of zoo animals continues.