she`s so skirt!

Clare Richardson monkeys around

"My grandkids think grandma is way out there," says Clare, President of The Diane Fossey International Gorilla Fund and grandmother to five. After raising funds for Zoo Atlanta for 10 years, she took over the Fossey Fund when they moved their headquarters to the park. "They call it Grandma's Zoo," says the 67-year-old, about the cool place she works. Clare travels to Africa about three times a year to oversee the work being done in the Congo and Rwanda at Fossey's Center, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. She hikes out to the gorilla habitat and sits quietly in the brush waiting to check on her primate buddies. "We work with the locals to preserve the habitat of these majestic animals," she says. Clare's job is to think big picture and figure out how to get funds for good friends like Taz, the 18-year-old silverback pictured with her here. While her work is serious, to preserve this wildly intelligent primate from poaching and dwindling habitats, she also admits, "They're so silly. It's like working with toddlers." And adds, "I can't think of a more fun and rewarding job."