Roger Fouts & Stephen Tukel Mills: Next Of Kin: What Chimpanzees Have Taught Me About Who We Are

Thirty years ago, grad student Roger Fouts took on the task of teaching a chimpanzee to use American Sign Language, an assignment he considered merely a stepping stone in the direction of his ultimate goal of working with autistic children. At the time, Fouts didn't realize that his first encounter with Washoe, the first of several chimps he would teach to sign, sealed his fate, assuring that he would spend the next three decades taking care of her and the chimp family that would later be assembled around her. While it's a consistently fascinating account of Fouts' relationships with his primate companions, Next Of Kin is often just as compelling for the scientific facts and theories illustrated by these relationships. Time after time, in readable science-speak, Fouts details observations that convey how narrow the gap between chimpanzees and humans really is, from the differences in DNA—less than the difference between African elephants and Indian elephants—to the incredible similarities in means of communication. Much of Next Of Kin's final third is given over to Fouts' growing concern with the treatment of chimpanzees, and all animals, in labs and zoos, a concern justified in a more convincing manner than found in most animal-rights tracts. Fouts' hands-on knowledge and familial compassion for his chimpanzee companions make this an exceptional book that should change the way any reader views humans' closest relations.