Voices from the Ape House
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- 15,99 €
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- 15,99 €
Publisher Description
Exploring the history humans share with gorillas, Voices from the Ape House offers a behind-the-scenes look at the complicated social lives of western lowland gorillas through the eyes of a devoted zookeeper. The memoir traces Beth Armstrong’s love and fascination for animals, from her childhood to her work with captive primates as an adult. Through her eyes, readers sense the awe and privilege of working with these animals at the Columbus Zoo. Individual gorillas there had an enormous effect on her life, shaping and influencing her commitment to improving gorilla husbandry and to involving her zoo in taking an active role to protect gorillas in the wild.
Through anecdotal stories, readers get a glimpse into the fascinating lives of gorillas—the familiar gentleness of mothers and fathers toward their infants, power plays and social climbing, the unruly nature of teenagers, the capacity for humor, and the shared sadness by group members as they mourn the death of one of their own. In the end, Armstrong’s conflict with captivity and her lifelong fondness for these animals helped shape a zoo program dedicated to gorilla conservation.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
First-time author Armstrong tells of her work with primates at the Columbus Zoo in an intriguing but somewhat disappointing memoir. Beginning there as a volunteer in 1979 at age 22, and then continuing as a primate keeper after being hired two years later, Armstrong vividly recalls the Ape House's "cold, unforgiving, concrete shell" and its "thick deep pungent odor." Emphasizing the privilege of being able to observe gorillas, chimpanzees, and other primates up close, and her sadness at not being able to provide them with a more natural environment, she describes her daily routine toting food buckets, distributing vitamins and protein drinks, peeling oranges, gathering debris, and participating in grooming routines. Armstrong captures a sense of the house as a strange and sometimes dangerous world, one that finds her alone and defenseless among immensely powerful and sometimes aggressive creatures though the gorillas are gentle, the chimps are often rowdy, sometimes pelting her with feces. In sections set outside the house, Armstrong writes less successfully about her involvement with a program for raising gorillas born in captivity. Moreover, copious descriptions of each new gorilla family she encounters in her work may overwhelm readers. The rich, raw material deserves a better treatment than this intermittently involving account.