Chimpanzee Rescue: Changing the Future for Endangered Wildlife (Firefly Animal Rescue) - Softcover

Bow, Patricia

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1552979083 ISBN 13: 9781552979082

Publisher: Firefly Books, 2004

Synopsis

From the book:
"We need to give them the respect they deserve, as our closest living relatives in the animal kingdom."

Long used in mass media entertainment, chimpanzees are recognized and loved by people of all ages. In spite of their popularity, chimpanzees are threatened by a disappearing habitat, poaching and disease. In 1984, demand for lab chimpanzees skyrocketed when scientists discovered that chimpanzees could be infected with HIV. Only four years later, the chimpanzee's status moved from threatened to endangered.

Chimpanzee Rescue explains the innovative strategies conservationists are using to prevent its demise.

While much is being accomplished through increased public awareness and conservation management, much needs to be done. The recent Ebola outbreak, a deadly virus that also affects humans, devastated chimp populations in central Africa. It's a grim reminder of how biologically similar our species are.

About the Firefly Animal Rescue series:

The Firefly Animal Rescue identifies endangered and threatened species and what is being done to protect them. Combining lively, accessible text and stunning color photographs, each book provides a detailed overview of the species, describing its characteristics, behavior, habits, physiology and more.

"These attractive books are a call to action... fascinating readable accounts."
- School Library Journal

"Succinct introductions to the science and practice of wildlife conservation... written in accessible, lively language."
- Booklist

About this title

From the Author

Chimpanzee Rescue introduces readers to our closest relatives: the well-known chimpanzee and its cousin, the rare bonobo. These two African great apes share more than 96 percent of their DNA with humans. Able to make and use tools and to communicate by signs, capable of both friendship and war, they are so much like humans that some scientists are studying them for clues to how our own distant ancestors may have lived and behaved.

Sadly, the survival of these fascinating creatures is threatened as human populations increase, bringing conflict and disease, and using up the forests on which chimpanzees and bonobos depend. They are also falling prey to hunters who sell "bushmeat" to urban restaurants, where it is served up as a costly delicacy. Some experts predict that all the great apes will be extinct within our lifetime.

But not everyone accepts this prognosis. Chimpanzee Rescue profiles several of the projects and people dedicated to helping chimps and bonobos survive. Readers will meet a biologist who brokered a deal to preserve hunt-free habitat for the chimpanzees of Gabon, a woman who launched the first successful project to return captive chimps to the wild, and a chimp specialist who planted a corridor of trees to free an isolated chimp community from its forest prison. They will visit a forest in Uganda where chimps and humans live side-by-side, a bonobo preserve in Congo where river patrols confront armed poachers, and a sanctuary in Florida for chimps rescued from biomedical research.

About the Author

Patricia Bow is a former librarian who studied journalism.

About this edition

• Publisher: Firefly Books
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 1552979083
• ISBN 13: 9781552979082
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 64