Book Reviews Karen Oates Department Editor

mysterious fevers; this investigator in- states, "For me, studying and rescuing PRIMATOLOGY trepidly seeks out the elusive orangu- orangutans wasn't a project or a job, Reflections of Eden-My Years with tans in their jungle habitat. In fact, the but a mission!" Her story relates the the Orangutans of Borneo. By Birute name orangutan comes from two Ma- years studying the orangutans, her ef- M. F. Galdikas. 1995. Little, Brown and lay words meaning 'person of the for- forts to rescue and rehabilitate captive Company (NY). 408 pp. Hardback $24.95. est'. With patience, one sees that the animals, and how the fieldwork shaped her life. "The living conditions, Birute Galdikas writes about orangutans slowly reveal themselves, and can be identified and tracked so the funding difficulties, the practical F her years spent studying the that part of their life histories are re- problems, the highs of discovery, the

last arboreal great ape in the Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/abt/article-pdf/58/6/381/47684/4450183.pdf by guest on 30 September 2021 corded false starts and the dead ends, the tropical jungles of Borneo. One of the over the years. drudgery of scientific record-keeping, three 'trimates' sponsored by the char- Orangutans lead mostly a solitary the learning how to get along with ismatic Louis Leakey to study pri- life style which is an adaptation to the people and societies initially very for- mates, this determined anthropologist environment. Because food sources are widely in eign to you, the learning how to get felt compelled to study one of the great scattered the jungle, and be- along without people, places, and apes to continue the search for insights cause the great apes require much sus- things you once took for granted, the that their behavior might yield about tenance, the land cannot support their feeling of suspension in time as the human nature and human origins. Jane needs if they remain in groups of any world spins on without you-all have Goodall was the first to study chim- size. Thus these isolated species are an impact." panzees; Dian Fossey traveled to Africa even more threatened by the habitat Teenagers will recognize the emo- to observe gorillas; and Birute Galdi- destruction of forestry and farming that tional determination that drives this kas, called the 'third sister,' chose to diminishes their food sources. They are naturalist towards her goal, and all investigate the orangutans, the sole described as "the most brilliant bota- readers will enjoy the stories of the surviving great ape of Asia. Her plan nists on the planet" in selecting their orangutans and feel concern for their was to compile life histories of the diet from among 400 differentfood types, threatened position. This autobiogra- orangutans similar to the methods including a highly diversified mix of phy records the story of a remarkable used by Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey. fruit leaves, bark, sap, shoots, stems, woman and her relations with people Vividly describing her difficult ef- honey, insects and fungi. The social and apes, and contains wonderful an- forts to find and track these solitary, behavior between mother and child is ecdotes about other anthropologists arboreal orangutans, this UCLA- sensitively reported and the aggressive and primatologists. trained student suddenly finds herself actions of the adult male are warily in the alien tropical rain forests of described. The combat witnessed be- Rita Hoots Borneo. Living under primitive condi- tween males tends to confirm the evo- Yuba College tions, on subsistence rations, and con- lutionary theory predicting that when Woodland,CA 95776 stantly besieged by biting mosquitoes, lone males fight to gain access to fe- open sores, blood-sucking leeches, and males, the males tend to be larger than the females of their species; "the males' extra bulk is the bulk of aggression." COSMOLOGY Karen Oates is editor of the Book The great apes exhibit some common Reviews section of ABT.She is an As- forms of expression such as kissing, The Origin of the Universe. By John sociate Professor of Biology, a mem- hugging, and hand-holding. The oran- Barrow. 1994. Science Masters Series ber of the Women's Study Center at gutans described within the chapters of George Mason Universityand co-ed- the book emerge as characters that itor of the newslefter for Women in have their own unique personalities. Dr.Birute Galdikas will present the keynote Cancer Research. Oates holds a B.S. Names such as Cara, Priscilla, Throat- forThe Dissection Controversy: Bridging the in Biology from Rochester Institute of pouch-to list only a few-define Teacher-StudentGap at NABT'sNational Technology and Ph.D. from George these creatures with identities that the Conventionin Chadotte, North Carolina, on Washington UniversityMedical Cen- Wednesday,October 16. Dr.Galdikas'pre- ter. reader can follow as their daily behav- Oates is a cytokine researcher sentationwill be partof a broadspectrum of and author of several primaryarticles iors are recorded in separate chapters. and and book chapters dealing with the This autobiography dramatically viewpointson dissection,by secondary biological activity of Thymosin. Re- chronicles Galdikas' adventures char- collegelevel biology teachers, students, and cently she has been named co-di- acterized by her unyielding commit- an administrator.Lunch and refreshments rector of a new college at George ment; she is a zealot resolute and tena- willbe served.Other highlights include door of The DigitalFrog Mason featuring an undergraduate cious in her mission to study the prizes,demonstrations curriculumbased on collabo- andother dissection alternatives, active, orangutans. Sparked by the examples CD-ROM rative and experimental learning. Her and free materialsto help teach verte- of Goodall and Fossey, captivated by address is: Biology Department, brateanatomy and physiology. (Organized Leakey, and aided by her first hus- George Mason University,Fairfax, VA bythe HumaneSociety of the U.S.in coop- Rod 22030. band, Brindamoour-Birute pur- erationwith NABT.) sued and captured her dream. As she

BOOK REVIEWS381