GOBLIN, A WILD CHIMPANZEE

Teleki has studied and photographed at Goodall's Gombe Stream Research Center in Tanzania, and his three years of observations pay off in this remarkably vital and personable day-in-the-life. No representative construct, Goblin is a real member of the Gombe population--""one of the more playful,"" as readers soon discover. Shortly after waking, Goblin, who is being weaned, throws a royal tantrum because his mother Melissa, firm to the end, refuses to nurse him. (Throughout, Melissa is a parent of exemplary wisdom.) Later in the morning he pounds playmate Pom on the head until the two mothers step in, and that afternoon he and Porn play with some young baboons as mothers from both groups keep watch side by side. Goblin is at an interesting age, and we see him attempting to ape his elders--fishing for termites, building a nest--but he's not quite up to the attempt, and in the end he crawls in for the night with his mother. The intimate photos which show exactly what the story tells add considerable immediacy, and all in all this is engaging proof that an ordinary clay doesn't have to be boring.