It seems we can’t get away from apes this summer, with Rise of the Planet of the Apes the top box office draw in its opening weekend. Though the science behind the film might be a little shaky, it does remind us how much we have in common with our closest primate relatives. Whether you prefer to escAPE with fiction or nonfiction, you can intimately explore the world of the great apes, their interactions with our own species, and ultimately what it means to be human.
Nonfiction:
Almost Chimpanzee: Searching for What Makes Us Human, in Rainforests, Labs, Sanctuaries, and Zoos by Jon Cohen (2010): A Science reporter chronicles how scientists have redrawn the genetic boundary between humans and apes after cracking the chimpanzee genome in 2005.
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Bonobo Handshake: A Memoir of Love and Adventure in the Congo by Vanessa Woods (2010): A Discovery Channel writer accompanies her scientist fiancé to a bonobo sanctuary in war-torn Congo, where they enter the world of the rare, peace-loving ape with whom we share 98.7 percent of our DNA.
Gorillas in the Mist by Dian Fossey (2000, c1983): Fossey’s own riveting account of her thirteen years in a remote African rain forest and her extraordinary efforts to ensure the future of its remaining mountain gorillas, work which ended in her murder.
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Great Ape Odyssey by Biruté Mary Galdikas; foreword by Jane Goodall (2005): Primatologist Galdikas, a founding director of Orangutan Foundation International who worked alongside Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Louis Leakey, presents a lavishly photographed exploration of the great apes, featuring tender and intimate large-scale portraits.
Intimate Ape: Orangutans and the Secret Life of a Vanishing Species by Shawn Thompson (2010): A renowned journalist travels through Borneo to the rain-forest home of the orangutan, a species on the brink of extinction, to provide an intimate look at a little-known ape.
Fiction:
Ape House by Sara Gruen (2010): A group of bonobos are kidnapped from a language laboratory and cast on a reality television show. Author Sara Gruen (Water for Elephants) did her research at the Great Ape Trust in Des Moines, Iowa, and is one of the few outsiders who has ever been allowed access.
Lucy by Laurence Gonzales (2010): Fourteen-year-old Lucy, the result of experimental breeding between a primatologist and a bonobo, is rescued from the Congo jungle during a civil war uprising and brought to the suburbs of Chicago, where she must fight for her right to exist.
Evolution of Bruno Littlemore by Benjamin Hale (2011): Born and raised in a habitat at the local zoo, Bruno is the first chimp with the gift of speech. Primatologist Lydia Littlemore takes Bruno into her home to oversee his education, but is unable to control some of his more primal urges.
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