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Rollie, an Emporer Tamarin monkey at Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo, is feeling the strains of old age. At 17, he only has 6 teeth left and has to be fed cooked vegetables.

Even as a youngster, Rollie looked older and wiser than his years. His white mustache sprouted longer by the month, until it flamed from his cheeks like a German kaiser's. Sometimes, it all but hid his mouth.

In the last few years, though, the tribulations of age — not just the appearance of it — have begun catching up with Rollie. It wasn't immediately noticeable on the outside. But his keepers at Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo are reminded each time they get a look past the Emperor Tamarin's flowing whiskers, and into his jaws.

The tiny monkey, used to crunching away on raw sweet potato and celery, has surrendered all but 6 of his 32 teeth to the toll of time.

At 17, Rollie is a senior citizen of his species. In the wilds of the Amazon, his keepers say, he almost certainly would never have made it this long.

The Golden Years have arrived at the nation's zoos and aquariums, and that is taking veterinarians and keepers, along with their animals, into a zone of unknowns.