Among Orangutans: Red Apes and the Rise of Human Culture

van Schaik, Carel; van Duijnhoven, Perry [Photographer]

ISBN 10: 0674015770 / ISBN 13: 9780674015777

Published by Belknap Press, 2004

About this Item

Hardback, no dust jacket.Not a library copy.

Seller Inventory # 240430002

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Among Orangutans: Red Apes and the Rise of Human Culture
• Publisher: Belknap Press
• Publication Date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0674015770
• ISBN 13: 9780674015777
• Binding: hardcover
• Condition: No markings or personalizing
• Weight: 31 ounces
• Seller catalogs:
  • Nature

About this title

Synopsis

The local people know him as the "Man of the Forest," who refused to speak for fear of being put to work. And indeed the bear-like Sumatran orangutan, with his moon face, lanky arms, and shaggy red hair, does seem uncannily human; one of our closest relatives in the animal kingdom, the orangutan may have much to tell us about the origins of human intelligence, technology, and culture. In this book one of the world's leading experts on Sumatran orangutans, working in collaboration with nature photographer Perry van Duijnhoven, takes us deep into the disappearing world of these captivating primates.

In a narrative that is part adventure, part field journal, part call to conscience, Carel van Schaik introduces us to the colorful characters and complex lives of the orangutans who inhabit the vanishing forests of Sumatra. In compelling words and pictures, we come to know the personalities and temperaments of our primate cousins as they go about their days: building double-decker tree nests; using leaves as napkins, gloves, rain hats, and blankets, and sticks as backscratchers and probes; nurturing their infants longer and more intensely than any other nonhuman mammal. Here are the births and deaths, the first use of a tool, the defeat of a rival, the gradual loss of influence that, while fascinating to observe, may also help us to reconstruct human evolution.

About the Authors

Carel van Schaik is Professor and Director of the Anthropological Institute and Museum, University of Zürich.

Perry van Duijnhoven is a Dutch artist and photographer.