Storytelling Apes: Primatology Narratives Past and Future (Animalibus: Of Animals and Cultures)

A Literary Analysis Of The Popular Genre Of The Informal Primatology Field Narrative. Explores The Works Of Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, Robert Sapolsky, And Others In The Contexts Of Scientific, Literary, And Conservation Discourses--provided By Publisher. First Contacts -- The Primatology Romance -- Tragedy Of The Field -- Morphology Of The Tale -- Primate Characters -- Primatology And The Carnival World. Mary Sanders Pollock. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 245-250) And Index.

The annals of field primatology are filled with stories aboutcharismatic animals native to some of the most challenging andremote areas on earth. There are, for example, the chimpanzees ofTanzania, whose social and family interactions Jane Goodall hasstudied for decades; the mountain gorillas of the Virungas,chronicled first by George Schaller and then later, moreobsessively, by Dian Fossey; various species of monkeys (Indianlangurs, Kenyan baboons, and Brazilian spider monkeys) studied bySarah Hrdy, Shirley Strum, Robert Sapolsky, Barbara Smuts, andKaren Strier; and finally the orangutans of the Bornean woodlands,whom Biruté Galdikas has observed passionately. Humans are, afterall, storytelling apes. The narrative urge is encoded in our DNA,along with large brains, nimble fingers, and color vision, traitswe share with lemurs, monkeys, and apes. In StorytellingApes, Mary Sanders Pollock traces the development andevolution of primatology field narratives while reflecting upon thedevelopment of the discipline and the changing conditions withinnatural primate habitat.

Like almost every other field primatologist who followed her,Jane Goodall recognized the individuality of her study animals:defying formal scientific protocols, she named her chimpanzeesubjects instead of numbering them, thereby establishing a trend.For Goodall, Fossey, Sapolsky, and numerous other scientists whoseworks are discussed in Storytelling Apes, free-livingprimates became fully realized characters in romances, tragedies,comedies, and never-ending soap operas. With this work, Pollockshows readers with a humanist perspective that science writing canhave remarkable literary value, encourages scientists to sharetheir passions with the general public, and inspires theconservation community.

The annals of field primatology are filled with stories about charismatic animals native to some of the most challenging and remote areas on earth. There are, for example, the chimpanzees of Tanzania, whose social and family interactions Jane Goodall has studied for decades; the mountain gorillas of the Virungas, chronicled first by George Schaller and then later, more obsessively, by Dian Fossey; various species of monkeys (Indian langurs, Kenyan baboons, and Brazilian spider monkeys) studied by Sarah Hrdy, Shirley Strum, Robert Sapolsky, Barbara Smuts, and Karen Strier; and finally the orangutans of the Bornean woodlands, whom Biruté Galdikas has observed passionately. Humans are, after all, storytelling apes. The narrative urge is encoded in our DNA, along with large brains, nimble fingers, and color vision, traits we share with lemurs, monkeys, and apes. In Storytelling Apes, Mary Sanders Pollock traces the development and evolution of primatology field narratives while reflecting upon the development of the discipline and the changing conditions within natural primate habitat. Like almost every other field primatologist who followed her, Jane Goodall recognized the individuality of her study animals: defying formal scientific protocols, she named her chimpanzee subjects instead of numbering them, thereby establishing a trend. For Goodall, Fossey, Sapolsky, and numerous other scientists whose works are discussed in Storytelling Apes, free-living primates became fully realized characters in romances, tragedies, comedies, and never-ending soap operas. With this work, Pollock shows readers with a humanist perspective that science writing can have remarkable literary value, encourages scientists to share their passions with the general public, and inspires the conservation community.