Primates prowling in an urban jungle

[Photo provided to China Daily]

When she was at the Language Research Center at Georgia University in Atlanta in the United States, she encountered a chimpanzee trained to use a special keyboard to communicate with humans.

And the chimpanzee repeatedly asked her: "Where is my mom? I want my mom."

The chimpanzee had been trained by a woman scientist for years since its infancy.

But then the scientist shifted focus to another animal and this chimpanzee was, to some extent, abandoned, says Roet. "It was really sad," she says.

Born in a coastal city in Australia, Roet has been interested in monkeys since childhood although there were no monkeys where she lived.

She first learned about monkeys through TV documentaries and books.

When she grew up, she traveled to zoos around the world and took up artistic residency programs in primate research centers.