James and Other Apes

Fifty great apes--chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans and bonobos, our closest biological relatives--are featured in this series of portraits by James Mollison. Photographed over a span of four years in seven ape sanctuaries (in Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of Congo, Indonesia, Germany and the United States), they are mainly orphans, victims of the illicit trade in "bushmeat." Djeke, Fizi, Gregoire, James, Koto and the others are all photographed as unique individuals, in the manner of passport photographs, while representing species whose survival is under threat. Featuring case note biographies and introduced with a powerful essay by Jane Goodall, this book celebrates the great apes. The faces that look back at us also raise profound moral and scientific questions--including what it means to define ourselves "human."