Dawn Prince-Hughes Illustrations by Anne Hulse The University of Arizona Press Copyright 2001 FOREWORD: Jane Goodall Gorillas among Us is a wonderful book that delights the mind and touches the heart. It tells the story of a researcher who studies a group of gorillas in a zoo. It describes her joy at the first touch of a gorilla, her elation when a baby is born, and her sharing in a sense of communal grief when one of the gorillas dies. The book lays out the life histories of each of the gorillas and explores the interactions and relationships between various individuals. The researcher describes gorilla emotions and shares her belief that the gorillas have an ancient culture. The author was privileged to experience numerous special events with the gorillas. One day she discovers a pile of stones neatly stacked-almost like a cairn. When she asks the gorilla keeper why the gorillas have done this, the gorilla keeper refuses to speculate on the meaning but says that it has happened before and that she believes it has some special significance for the gorillas. Prince-Hughes expresses sadness over the fact that zoo visitors, on average, spend so little time watching the gorillas-or any animals in the zoo. Many people stop for only a few brief moments before moving on. Perhaps after reading this book, visitors will be encouraged to spend longer watching the gorillas, not only because these zoo denizens represent one of the animal kingdom's most magnificent species, but also because the visitors will be eager to meet the fascinating personalities that they have read about. And they will understand the meaning of the postures and gestures used by the gorillas in communicating with each other. It is the author's empathy with her subjects, her obvious love of gorillas, that makes this book so special. The book will serve conservation well, for no one who reads about these wonderful beings, so humanlike yet so uniquely themselves, can fail to be horrified to learn of the plight of wild gorillas in Africa. Their forest habitat is being destroyed as human populations grow. They are caught in snares set for pigs and antelopes, and though they are strong enough to break the wire cable, their struggles pull the noose tight and eventually they lose a hand or foot or die an agonizing death from gangrene. Mothers are shot so that their infants can be stolen for the live animal trade. And in the Congo Basin, the very heart of the gorillas' range, they are hunted-along with chimpanzees, elephants, monkeys, and almost every other animal-for food. Logging companies have built roads deep into the forest, and hunters from towns ride trucks to the ends of the roads, shoot everything, and truck the carcasses back to the cities to sell in the markets, catering to a cultural preference in this part of Africa for the flesh of wild animals. People pay more for gorilla than for goat. This trade, along with the shooting of "bushmeat" for the employees of huge logging camps, is absolutely not sustainable. Unless we can stop the hunting of gorillas for food these magnificent creatures will be almost extinct within the next ten to fifteen years. Let us pray that this book, portraying gorillas as intelligent beings with a complex society and rich social and emotional lives, with highly developed and rational minds, will make a difference. Prince-Hughes has written a book that speaks to our hearts and enlists our sympathies. Thank you, for the gorillas need us now more than ever before. CONTENTS Foreword by Jane Goodall ix Acknowledgments xi Introduction xiii Prologue 3 Book of Days 25 More about Gorillas 123 Notes 129 References and Further Reading 133 WHERE TO ORDER: The University of Arizona Press 355 S. Euclid Ave., Suite 103, Tucson, AZ 85719 FAX: 1-520-621-8899 Phone: 1-800-426-3797 Order forms are available at www.uapress.arizona.edu PRICE: $40.00 cloth, ISBN 0-8165-2150-6 $17.95 paper, ISBN 0-8165-2151-4
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