IN THE SHADOW OF MAN

by Jane van Lawick-Goodall ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 18, 1971

Imagine a lovely blond English woman, no college training, sent to observe chimpanzees in the wilds of Tanganyika by no less a personage than Louis Leakey, famed paleontologist; imagine her succeeding through persistence, gentleness, and intuitive good sense; then getting her degree from Cambridge and marrying the handsome Dutch photographer that Leakey sent out to document her observations; imagine her name was Jane, no less. This summary of Jane Lawick-Goodall's findings will be of interest to anthropologists as well as sister behavioral scientists. By studying a single chimpanzee group of 30-40 individuals, she records the remarkable complexity and adaptability of chimp behavior. What is especially important is the range of individual differences she observed. Some chimps were more aggressive or intelligent, others content with secondary roles, still others ambitious to challenge the dominant male. Some females were good mothers from the start, others were rejecting. Woven into the account are rich details of individual activities, interpersonal relationships, and group habits (e.g., social grooming, nest-building, sexual behavior). Intellectually we have long accepted chimpanzees as our evolutionary relatives: their portrayal here clarifies where the similarities begin -- and where they end.

Pub Date: Oct. 18, 1971

ISBN: 0547334168

Page Count: -

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1971

Categories: NONFICTION