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This digital document is an article from Science and Its Times, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 589 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.The histories of science, technology, and mathematics merge with the study of humanities and social science in this interdisciplinary reference work. Essays on people, theories, discoveries, and concepts are combined with overviews, bibliographies of primary documents, and chronological elements to offer students a fascinating way to understand the impact of science on the course of human history and how science affects everyday life. Entries represent people and developments throughout the world, from about 2000 B.C. through the end of the twentieth century. ... Read more

Product Description
Could an adorable chimpanzee raised from infancy by a human family bridge the gap between species—and change the way we think about the boundaries between the animal and human worlds? Here is the strange and moving account of an experiment intended to answer just those questions, and the astonishing biography of the chimp who was chosen to see it through.

Dubbed Project Nim, the experiment was the brainchild of Herbert S. Terrace, a psychologist at Columbia University. His goal was to teach a chimpanzee American Sign Language in order to refute Noam Chomsky’s assertion that language is an exclusively human trait. Nim Chimpsky, the baby chimp at the center of this ambitious, potentially groundbreaking study, was “adopted” by one of Dr. Terrace’s graduate students and brought home to live with her and her large family in their elegant brownstone on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

At first Nim’s progress in learning ASL and adapting to his new environment exceeded all expectations. His charm, mischievous sense of humor, and keen, sometimes shrewdly manipulative understanding of human nature endeared him to everyone he met, and even led to guest appearances on Sesame Street, where he was meant to model good behavior for toddlers. But no one had thought through the long-term consequences of raising a chimp in the human world, and when funding for the study ran out, Nim’s problems began.

Over the next two decades, exiled from the people he loved, Nim was rotated in and out of various facilities. It would be a long time before this chimp who had been brought up to identify with his human caretakers had another opportunity to blow out the candles on a cake celebrating his birthday. No matter where he was sent, however, Nim’s hard-earned ability to converse with humans would prove to be his salvation, protecting him from the fate of many of his peers.

Drawing on interviews with the people who lived with Nim, diapered him, dressed him, taught him, and loved him, Elizabeth Hess weaves an unforgettable tale of an extraordinary and charismatic creature. His story will move and entertain at the same time that it challenges us to ask what it means to be human, and what we owe to the animals who so enrich our lives. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (26)

False and misleading information
It appears that Ms. Hess failed to check with the all participants of Project Nim for accuracy.The information about Delafield is both inaccurate and the time frame of those in the house is terribly incorrect.The initial move involved 4 people, Laura, Walter, Amy, and Andrea (who is never mentioned).The author states: "Terrace hired Amy Schachter and Walter Benesch (this reviewer), a couple who had occasionally worked with Nim over the past year and a half.Terrace invited them to move into Delafield, where they would share a bedroom (120)."This is not only false but liable.I was (a volunteer - not hired) moved into the room over the kitchen and Amy moved into a room on the 3rd floor.They were not a couple and did not meet each other until shortly before the move to Delafield.She also has the incorrect age for me.I worked as a youth service worker for the City full time and did not have his degree in social work as stated.I became involved in the project through his graduate work in anthropology, when Ralph Holloway referred him to Terrace.When I left the project it was to obtain a degree in social work.

Walter is described as "had hard work to keep ahead of the chimp."That is not so.Hess says that "Benesch would dutifully replace it (locks) with a new and more complex system."He never replaced a single lock.Likewise he never experienced the throwing of feces and other extreme behavior described while Nim was a Delafield with the one exception of the tantrum described below.

On page 124, she has Bob Johnson living in Delafield at the same time as Benesch.Again this is false information.Bob did not move in until Walter had left for more graduate work at Boston University.It appears the author did not read Dr. Terrace's book about the Sunday mornings where Walter (not Bob as he was not in Delafield at this time) would create pancake receipts together.When Walter left the project, Nim would not eat the plain pancakes others fixed since they lacked the spices and combination of flours and fruit Nim and I would put into the batter.We actually wrote (but never published) a pancake cookbook for children with the receipts Nim made, with his rating of each.

The story about Nim being dragged "into a small upstairs kitchen on the human side of the house.Benesch stayed with Nim as Tynan, outside locked the door (page 156-7)" is pure fictionalization of what actually happen.Tynan was not in the house at the time.Nim escaped into the upstairs common room that Laura and Amy would use.Yes, Walter was locked in while Nim had his tantrum.Likewise, he could not have "Called Tynan for help" since Tynan was not in the house at the time.It was Laura that called Walter for help.The rest of what is described on the following pages is again filled with half truths and a lot of misinformation.

Based upon reading the episode in which I was involved with Nim and how inaccurate it is, I have to raise serious doubts about the remainder of the book.Although I was very happy to find out about what happen to Nim after Delafield, the inaccuracies are so great it puts the remainder of the book in serious question.

Could have been a great narrative about a chimp, instead it reads like a time line...
I have read other books on the Chimp / sign language topic and thought this would be another great book with interesting stories and insights about chimp behavior. Instead this book reads like a time line, 3/4 of the book could be summed up in a paragraph.Every single person who had contact with Nim (the featured chimp at the center of the book) along the way is mentioned in this book.There is very little written about Nim himself.It just went on and on and on.I could hardly finish is. I was looking for a story, the book gave a play by play with all of the boring non-essential details.If you are looking for a great book on the topic read Next of Kin or anything by Jane Goodall.

Sex, Drugs, and Chimpanzee
Nim Chimpsky follows the trials and tribulations of an ASL chimp. I found the book to be entertaining: at times shocking, at others sweet. The author's purpose in writing the book is a bit unclear: Is she an animal advocate trying to proposition readers to empathize with the animals? Or is she trying to tell the story objectively?

The author continuously describes Nim as "charming" and that he "touches everyone he meets." However, the book is chockful of Nim's not-so-charming times brutally attacking both people and animals, throwing tantrums, and destroying items, while his charms seem less evident. Although the author seems to be trying to make a point that Nim is an animal, not a human, the brutality seems to overshadow the positives of Nim's personality. Probably, his positive attributes would best be supplemented by describing how Nim was taught to use signs to 'talk' to his handlers.

However, this does not seem to be the purpose of the book. It seems to be a biography, yet the author (a journalist) makes blanket statements about how competing language researchers Fouts and Terrace have flawed methodology. This is despite the fact that the methodology is rarely described and the author does not give one story of how Nim learned any signs. While it could be possible that Fouts and Terrace used failed methodologies in their language research, this claim is far too unsubstantiated (at least in the book) to be espoused by the author.

The author also seems to tow the line between animal welfare and animal rights. She condemns some of the actions taken by Nim's handlers in the book and seems far more forgiving to others. I agree with previous reviewers that she seems unduly harsh with Fouts' role in chimp research and only seems to clarify statements through burying them in the books endnotes. Fouts, of course, leans far more toward animal rights than the author who, at one point, states that Fouts was brazen in taking a chimp who was clearly the 'property' of Lemmon. Her wavering beliefs seem inputted in the book at odd times, while additional animal rights arguments are buried with the end notes.

Nim's story is fascinating in and of itself so it would be hard to write a bad book on ASL chimpanzees. The book has some strengths: notably the fallibility of the people around Nim (even if at times, their stories are far too cumbersome and tangential). The book would have been much better if the author had taken one of two approaches A) tell the story objectivity (difficult as that may be) or B) tell the story from an animal rights/welfare viewpoint, including all relevant issues animal rights theorists debate in detail. Nim's story is intriguing, but Fouts' poignant story "Next of Kin" is a far better read.

Excellent, but slightly skewed take on Project Nim
This well-written and researched book follows the long arc of the "Projet Nim" ape-language experiment in fascinating detail, from the foundations of its inception to its rather sad ending.Throughout, Ms. Hess is careful to ensure that our sympathies are always with the chimp Nim, but she never anthropomorphizes him.By the end, it's hard not to see Nim as a victim.A loved and well-treated one (sometimes), but a victim nonetheless.

That's all fine.This not a book of cold, journalistic detachment, but an engrossing story of the personalities -- both human and animal -- involved in a radical bit of research that Ms. Hess clearly posits as misconceived.Again, that's fine.A book like this can have a viewpoint and still be honest, and this one scores on both counts.However, there were definitely moments that seemed downright gossipy as it outlined the foibles of some of the humans involved.In fact, almost every major player (Bill Lemmon, Herb Terrace, Roger Fouts) come off as arrogant or inept jerks (or worse) under Hess's constant editorializing.

Even with her chapter notes at the end of the book, I found it hard to connect the dots from many of the anecdotes to any reliable source.Sometimes, I just felt there was too much free-floating opinion in the text.It doesn't invalidate the book. I guess I just wish she'd given some of the people in the story the same empathy she lavished upon the chimps.

Overall though, this was an incisive and informative read, and eye-opening throughout.

Researchers teach a chimp named Nim sign language to find out whether non-humans can learn language
I started reading Nim Chimpsky around the time Travis the 200-pound chimp attacked and severely maimed a 55-year-old Connecticut woman. Based on the injuries (reported in the book) that the much smaller Nim was able to dish out to various trainers, the fact that the chimp's owner was able to keep the creature at all is unfathomable. But I digress. The story of Nim is an interesting one filled with plenty of surprises (some down right shocking) along the way. Author Elizabeth Hess explains the purpose of Project Nim. It (p 51) "...grew out of a desire to settle an old score between Skinner and Chomsky...Chomsky believed that the ability to develop language is not learned but inherent in humans and only humans. Skinner disagreed, arguing that language skills are acquired through training and could in principle be learned not just by humans but by other animals too." Hess follows Project Nim and the life of its prized chimp (who died at age 26 in 2000) mostly chronologically, adding in details about the many researchers involved in his training, caregivers, and especially the work at The Institute for Primate Studies in Norman Oklahoma. Notably there was a rather casual attitude towards relationships amongst chimp researchers that may explain a couple of the unconventional practices and research topics discussed in the book involving intimate chimp-human contact. The fact-filled Nim Chimpsky The Chimp Who Would Be Human contains more information on chimp-related research, especially involving sign language, than the average reader would ever need know. Also good: The Best American Science Writing series, Congo by Michael Crichton, and (for kids) Koko's Kitten by Dr. Francine Patterson and Ronald H. Cohn. ... Read more

Product Description
"Kanzi offers any number of crucial insights into the workings of the mind."––The New York Times Book Review

The remarkable story of the "talking" ape who is proving animals can think

Though he cannot physically speak, Kanzi understands an impressive amount of spoken English and communicates by punching symbols on a special keyboard. This book tells Kanzi's incredible story and explores its intriguing ramifications.

SUE SAVAGE-RUMBAUGH (Decatur, Georgia) is one of the world's leading ape-language researchers. ROGER LEWIN (Cambridge, Massachusetts) is the author of 12 books, including co-authorship of the best-selling Origins with Richard Leakey. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

A SUMMARY BY ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS "APE LANGUAGE" RESEARCHERS
Sue Savage-Rumbaugh (born 1946) is a primatologist most famous for her work with two bonobos, Kanzi and Mulika, investigating their apparent use of "Great Ape language" using lexigrams and computer-based keyboards. She is also the co-author of Apes, Language, and the Human Mind. In this 1994 book, she and science writer Roger Lewin have summarized her research at teaching chimpanzees to use a specially-designed keyboard to communicate with trainers.

She writes of her early concerns, "This absence of full comprehension in language-trained apes was, I felt strongly, a more fundamental criticism of ape-language research than the absence of syntax, as demonstrated by Terrace. Cooperative comprehension is fundamental to language, and two-way communication that does not reflect comprehension is not language, no matter what other attributes it may possess."

She details her reaction to an attack on such ape language work by behaviorists such as B.F. Skinner, who "explained that, although the sequence of events might look like 'sustained and natural conversation,' it was in fact the result of strict conditioning procedures."She writes, "One issue that undoubtedly had provoked the behaviorists' attack was my conclusion that Sherman and Austin were exhibiting conscious intentionality during their communication--a clear red flag to those who believe behavior should simply be viewed as responses to external stimuli. As a result I became labeled a cognitive psychologist."

She writes that "Kanzi was clearly doing this (i.e., comprehending language). For so revolutionary a scientific claim as this, a persuasive body of data would be required, and as yet, I had only my notes of what Kanzi had done. Would anyone believe those? Would anyone believe anything without a number of detailed blind tests? I doubted it. I knew that convincing others would be a difficult task, but I also knew that if I were to focus too intently on proving everything Kanzi said or did, I would lose his natural engagement in the language process."

She concludes, "The ease with which Kanzi acquired a facility for symbolic communication not only tells us something about humans, and the assumed uniqueness of the human mind, but also something about apes and their cognitive competence in their natural state... The boundary wall between humans and apes has finally been breached."

Interesting and Partly Convincing
This book makes plausible claims that some bonobos have learned to handle language in a way that is approximately as sophisticated as that of a two year old human. But their anecdotal evidence is somewhat hard to evaluate, and they didn't quite convince me that they were careful enough to rule out the possibility that their biases caused them to overestimate the sophistication of Kanzi's understanding.
The book is a bit long-winded about research that Savage-Rumbaugh did before working with Kanzi, and I was a bit disappointed that the book didn't provide more of the anecdote about Kanzi that made the book worth reading. But those anecdotes convinced me that much more is going on than some authors such as Pinker had led me to believe. I still hope for better evidence that will help clarify how much bonobos can understand. But that will be hard, and I don't know how it should be done.

Thought provoking and charming
Animal intelligence is a huge interest of mine.I have read many books about the intelligence of primates, ocean mammals, and birds. This was one of my favorites.Although the author talks about herbackground and inspiration for a bit longer than I wanted to read at the beginning of the book, she really does a good job in describing her experiences with common and bonobo chimpanzees.Thebook is a pleasent read and describes both anectodal and scientific based experiences.The anecdotal bits really give you an insight into interactions withchimps and make you feel as if you know the individuals.

This book should create earthquakes
As heartbreaking as it is eye-opening, this is an account of trying to conceptually reinsert humans into nature as much as it is the story of remarkable apes.Savage-Rumbaugh convincingly presents not only the bonobo Kanzi, but also his sister Panbanisha and the common chimpanzees Sherman and Austin, as persons in every sense but the arbitrary one of species.Tragically, the author provides a sense of the rich life our cousins lead beneath our noses at the precise moment any opportunity to know these people called apes in their own milieus is being exterminated.Read the book and pass it on.

Important but Defensive
This is an important, if somewhat defensive book. I would have been much more interested to read more about Kanzi's day to day behavior and to see some actual scientific data instead of the story of the investigator's scientific publishing woes. Nevertheless, this book should be read widelyand it's message that we humans are not as unique as we like to think needscareful consideration by all scientists and the general population. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A well written and rich resource for primatologists!
Jane Goodall has written a wonderful resource for anyone interested in primate behavior.This book covers every aspect of chimpanzee behavior from feeding, social structure, individual chimp bios, chimp warfare, and everything else you could ever want to know.If you're interested inchimpanzee behavior, then this book is a must read! ... Read more

Product Description

The captivating story of how a band of scientists has redrawn the genetic and behavioral lines that separate humans from our nearest cousins

In the fall of 2005, a band of researchers cracked the code of the chimpanzee genome and provided a startling new window into the differences between humans and our closest primate cousins. For the past several years, acclaimed Science reporter Jon Cohen has been following the DNA hunt, as well as eye-opening new studies in ape communication, human evolution, disease, diet, and more.

In Almost Chimpanzee, Cohen invites us on a captivating scientific journey, taking us behind the scenes in cutting-edge genetics labs, rain forests in Uganda, sanctuaries in Iowa, experimental enclaves in Japan, even the Detroit Zoo. Along the way, he ferries fresh chimp sperm for a time-sensitive analysis, gets greeted by pant-hoots and chimp feces, and investigates an audacious attempt to breed a humanzee. Cohen offers a fresh and often frankly humorous insider's tour of the latest research, which promises to lead to everything from insights about the unique ways our bodies work to shedding light on stubborn human-only problems, ranging from infertility and asthma to speech disorders.

And in the end, Cohen explains why it's time to move on from Jane Goodall's plea that we focus on how the two species are alike and turns to examining why our differences matter in vital ways—for understanding humans and for increasing the chances to save the endangered chimpanzee.

Customer Reviews (3)

Profound.
Almost Chimpanzee:Search for What Makes Us Human, In Rainforests, Labs, Sanctuaries, and Zoos by Jon Cohen is perhaps, the most significant book I've read so far in 2010.Almost everyone has heard of Jane Goodall and the work she has done for more than 40 years in the Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania.It is largely through Goodall's work that the world has learned of the many similarities between chimp behavior and that of humans.Jon Cohen's Almost Chimpanzee is a fresh examination of some of the differences between humans and chimps rather than the similarities.

The genetic differences between human and chimp DNA is estimated to be about 1%.But even that minute difference has meant a huge separation between the fates of the two species.Correctly pointed out, man will determine the fate of the chimp and not the other way around.

Cohen has used research from virtually every field of primate research.He has included work done in laboratories and in field studies, and included efforts to teach apes and chimpanzees language.He also includes work that looks at the differences in the human body and that of the chimp.Why are we bipedal, the only primate to be so, and why do male chimps have larger testicles than their human counterparts?

Almost Chimpanzee doesn't attack the topic by comparing chimps to humans but instead approaches the subject from the other point of view....what makes us Almost Chimpanzees.

Profoundly interesting!I highly recommend.

Peace always.

Almost Chimpanzee Great Read!
This is a great book really for everyone. People who want to keep learning throuout life should read this.
My husband and I both read it and loved it thanks

Chimps, darwin and us
This wonderful book is a synthesis of humans, animals, science and history.
Beautifully written, it makes clear the things that make us like the chimpanzees but also the differences that make us humans.Based on extensive research, Cohen has taken Jane Goodall's study of chimps and added another dimension. ... Read more

Product Description
Beginning with an examination of the political, scientific and ethical issues involved in primate research, this volume provides detailed information on the breeding and care of chimpanzees in captive populations. The role of the chimpanzee in biomedical research is then reviewed. Emphasis is placed on research into infectious diseases, particular hepatitis, as well as on the testing of vaccines and the safety testing of blood products. ... Read more

Product Description
This edition presents the first complete English translation of N.N. Ladygina-Kohts' journal chronicling her pioneering work with the chimpanzee, Joni.The journal entries describe and compare the instincts, emotions, play, and habits of her son Rudy and Joni as each develops.First published in Moscow in 1935 as a memoir in the Darwin Museum Series, this edition has 120 photographs, 46 drawings and an introduction by Allen and Beatrix Gardner of the Center for Advanced Study at the University of Nevada, as well as a Foreword and an Afterword by Lisa A. Parr, Signe Preuschoft, and Frans B. M. de Waal of the Living Links Center at Emory University. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

AN EARLY, OFTEN-OVERLOOKED COMPARISON OF HUMAN INFANT/CHIMP BEHAVIOR
Nadezhda Ladygina-Kohts (1890-1963) did her research "as a relatively isolated pioneer in Stalinist Moscow."In this book she compared her observations beginning in 1913 of an infant chimpanzee (named "Joni") in her laboratory for 2-1/2 years with her later observations of her own infant son Roody (born in 1929).This edition also has an introduction by R. Allen and Beatrice Gardner (authors of books such as Teaching Sign Language to Chimpanzees).

Of course, our modern "humanitarian" impulses are shocked by passages such as the following: "One time, after (Joni) had bitten a boy, the chimpanzee was punished by whipping; he was beaten so harshly that the whip literally swished in the air. Nevertheless, he remained motionless and did not even show any intent to flee; he only curved his lips and scratched himself at the most painful spots sometimes."

She reports on Joni's use of tools: long sticks (to "scare cockroaches from the cracks in his cage"), nails (for digging in the ground), etc.

She notes significantly, "Joni imitates a dog's barking very well, but I have not noticed, in a 2-1/2 year period, any attempts on his part to reproduce or imitate even a semblance of intelligible human sounds."

She also makes the interesting statement, "Paradoxical as it might sound, I have to admit that, in my heart, both of them, Joni and Roody, take up an almost equal space."



... Read more

Product Description

Part of Prentice Hall's Primate Field Studies series.  Apes of the Impenetrable Forest (The Behavioral Ecology of Sympatiric Chimpanzees and Gorillas) offers students a scholary and relevant study.

Customer Reviews (1)

not all that good
i found this book to be informative but not so much about the two apes the author's title suggested were going to be the focus of the work. it was unorthodox in the sense that his goals and research objectives were not clearly defined.it seems sort of scattered and the author goes off into anecdotes that have no real impact on the study.i see how they might be relevant, but he devotes pages to things of that sort (the story of mitch being taken hostage for example.it's relevant and entertaining but not important to the overall project.he could've summed it up or stated the fact that he was taken as a reason for concerns of safety and as that being one of the reasons for not wanting to continue the project).More time in the book seems to be disproportionately devoted to chimpanzees than gorillas.there is a section devoted to both chimps and gorillas that has information about each and seems like the book could've done w/o that section also or just a basic summary because he did have info relevant to the book but he also had a lot of things that were of no use to the reader (unless they are reading this book for fun and actually care about what's in it but even still it takes the focus away from the book and makes it difficult to see what he is hoping to achieve in his study).his reasoning for the project becomes clearer by the end of the book (seems as though he is looking at the sympatricy, if that's even a word, as a basis for trying to understand how early hominids could've coexisted).his conclusions are scattered also, it takes a great deal of reading to realize what he is trying to say instead of him just putting it bluntly.the preface gives almost no information about the nature of his project and the first few chapters do not do the reader justice in trying to understand where the book is headed.just seems like he did a poor job in arranging the book, could've been a lot better.but as i said before it is informative just not all that fun to read.this is a 100 or so page book that could've been written more concisely (probably 40-50 pages) and would've been more purposeful. ... Read more

Product Description
Joanna Greenfield dreamed of traveling to East Africa to study one of the last known populations of wild chimpanzees. When she was offered a once-in-a-lifetime chance, the young student set off from peaceful Kenya into politically hazardous Uganda. From there, a small team of guides led her into the mountains.

In stunningly evocative language, Greenfield depicts the beauty of the rainforest and the determination required to wait for one transcendent encounter in the wild. But even one of the most remote places in the world is not immune to terrifying man-made conflict. Greenfield and her team are robbed by poachers and harassed by soldiers. Eventually, it becomes too dangerous to continue her research, though she knows she may never be allowed to return.

THE LION'S EYE is the true story of one woman's burning mission to connect with animals--an adventure story and against-the-odds quest for a wilderness few of us have ever glimpsed. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Uniquely Her Own
Joanna Greenfield was fearless when it came to pursuing her passion for studying animals in the wild. I was caught up in her adventures and finished the book admiring her courage and resourcefulness. She lived in the remote Africa bush withoutmodern conveniences while she studied the habits of assorted animals. Her lyrical writing, describing the landscape, the animals and their behavior, the guides, the living conditions and the dangers, is uniquely her own. I highly recommend this book.

The Lion's Eye
//The Lion's Eye// is the true story of one woman's passion for the animal kingdom that sent her on an adventure to the remote and natural habitats of Africa.What is unique about this book is not necessarily the tale itself, but the reading experience this first-time author takes you on. //The Lion's Eye// is not a book for the casual reader.You must truly love the written word to be captivated by this writer's style of writing.

Before Joanna Greenfield was born, her eyes lost their attachment to each other, and, therefore, the ability to analyze data in tandem.This left her with no depth perception and, oddly enough, animals became the only thing that could pull her eyes together for a few seconds at a time.Joanna saw the world differently than most of us and describes her journey to Africa with such incredible detail that you absolutely must relish every word.

I am delighted to have had the opportunity to review this book.Had I picked it up in a book store and read the Prologue, I may have not only been disenchanted, but a bit repulsed by the far-too descriptive tale on those first few pages. However, getting past that, I immediately found myself enthralled, soaking in every word, and completely fascinated by the author's tale. For the reader who wants to be pulled into a labyrinth of words forming sentences that require you to sit back and savor what you just read; then I highly recommend //The Lion's Eye//.

Reviewed by Doreen Erhardt

More than just an adventure in Africa
I just don't know how a person learns to write like Joanna Greenfield.For years after reading a piece by her in The New Yorker describing how she was nearly eaten by a hyena in Israel, I've looked for more of her writing.Nothing turned up until this full, lovely book, The Lion's Eye.While it is the story of her student research on chimpanzees and monkeys in Uganda, that is just the skeleton of the book. I found it hard to read quickly, and sometimes I had to read it out loud to myself, because it often is poetry disguised as prose.The story is interesting, the science instructive, and the author's vulnerability amazes.But I think a voice as beautiful as the author's is rarely found in print.

Africa's beauty-- true but not romanticized
For anyone who loves Africa or loves animals, this is a must-read.

Greenfield spent time during college studying chimpanzees in the rainforests of Uganda, at a time when Uganda was barely out of its Idi Amin horror years. Her book offers insight about animal behavior, nature writing and philosophy about the meaning of life.

What I most appreciated about the book was the balance the author brought to her findings. Animals are depicted as beautiful and soulful-- check out her descriptions of leopards hiding in plain sight in an acacia tree on the plain in Kenya. The image of the chimp relaxing in ecstasy as he is groomed by his mother-- both up in a tree in the first ray of sunshine after days of unrelenting rain-- makes me want to get back on a plane to Africa.

But Greenfield doesn't romanticize Africa-- she sees its problems clearly. Her description of the child soldiers inspecting her passport at a bus checkpoint-- and deciding if she lives or dies-- is all too real. And her lament about the endless expansion of Nairobi's population at the expense of land for wild creatures hits at misguided US foreign policy without being overtly political.

This multi-layered book has me thinking, and it will do the same for you too. Highly recommended reading.

dark, poignant and poetic
"The Lion's Eye" is a beautifully crafted,poignant, mesmerizing dark and soulful story of a woman trying to connect withanimals and with people, and reconnect withher childhood and herself. I couldn't put it down. ... Read more

Product Description
The chimpanzee of all other living species is our closest relation, with whom we last shared a common ancestor about five million years ago. These African apes make and use a rich and varied kit of tools, and of the primates they are the only consistent and habitual tool-users and tool-makers. Chimpanzees meet the criteria of a culture as originally defined for human beings by socio-cultural anthropologists. They show sex differences in using tools to obtain and to process a variety of plant and animal foods. The technological gap between chimpanzees and human societies that live by foraging (hunter-gatherers) is surprisingly narrow at least for food-getting. Different communities of wild chimpanzees have different tool-kits and not all of this regional and local variation can be explained bythe demands of the physical and biotic environments in which they live. Some differences are likely to be customs based on socially derived and symbolically encoded traditions. This book describes and analyzes the tool-use of humankind's nearest living relation.It focuses on field studies of these apes across Africa, comparing their customs to see if they can justifiably be termed cultural.It makes direct comparisons with the material culture of human foraging peoples.The book evaluates the chimpanzee as an evolutionary model, showing that chimpanzee behavior helps us to infer the origins of technology in human prehistory. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A major scientific work; should change our view of culture
McGrew's work has (perhaps predictably) not had the effect on social science that it deserves.He challenges the usual belief that human culture is unique in ALL respects by showing that variations in chimp tool kits are comparable to variations in human tool assemblages.A thoughtful, well-researched, and interesting study ... Read more

Product Description
Apes look and act far more like humans than other animals. Apes are super apes, just as apes are super monkeys. Portraits of the apes provide some glimpses into our closest cousins.


EXCERPTS: Chimps are tool users in the wild but many practices are seen only in a few places, suggesting that they are passed on by observation and learning. I’ll scatter some tool examples among the pictures and also include examples of communication. In general, the items are only seen in the orangutans and the “three chimpanzees” (chimp, bonobo, and us), not in other wild apes (gorilla, gibbon, siamang):

Chimps can hammer open tough nuts, seeking out flat stones to use as an anvil.Some will even stabilize the anvil by wedging another stone underneath.

Chimps can mop up insects using a leaf and then eat the insects.

A chimp will even make a thin stick into a tool by stripping off leaves and protrusions, then punching through the ground into an underground termite nest, and eating the defending termites that cling to the stick when it is withdrawn.

Chimpanzee Politics: subordinate males will form coalitions to control the power of a dominant chimp.

NOT SEEN: A chimp coalition playing against another coalition, as in the ad hoc teams of humans for various games.Only chimps and humans exhibit both the cooperative hunting of game and the gang warfare that often kills a lone neighbor. In both, the males act as a bonded “band of brothers.”

Some chimps will use a stick to comb tangles out of their hair.

The royal wrist: adult apes may extend the back of their hand to be kissed by an infant, which reassures it.

When fruit is out of reach, some wild chimps (and orangutans) will use a long stick to hook and pull down a branch.


The often-deprecated nonreproductive sexual behaviors occasionally seen in chimpanzees, gorillas, and humans are seen in almost every bonobo.

A bonobo may play a version of blindman’s buff, holding a hand over his eyes or draping a blanket over his head – and then show off how well he can balance on a rope or bounce off the walls without looking where he is going.


An orangutan will use a stick to scratch its back.

Orangutans can grab a sleeping slow loris and kill it with a bite to the head.

NOT SEEN: group hunting.

To get across a wide gap, a female orangutan bit through a thick vine and then used it to swing across, Tarzan style.

In zoo settings, orangutans are much faster to learn tool use than chimpanzees and are also more creative.

NOT SEEN: Orangutan Politics for establishing alliances that prevent a big male from dominating.

Sharing food with friends, and not just family, has not been seen in wild gorillas.

No “Gorilla Politics”:Males do not form coalitions to limit the power of the dominant silverback male.

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