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xviii, [4], 378 pages. Illustrations (some in color). Footnotes. Also

xviii, [4], 378 pages. Illustrations (some in color). Footnotes. Also contains Notes, Works Cited, and Index. Some creasing to bottom of spine edge, and top corner of rear dust jacket. Marks to bottom edge. Includes Foreword by Jane Goodall. Also contains a Preface, Notes, Works Cited, and an Index. The book contains chapters on Worlds, Forests, Pieces, Hunger, Food, Islands, Health, Water, Children, Wood, Cages, Zoos, and Worlds. Dale Peterson (born November 20, 1944) is an American author who writes about scientific and natural history subjects. Making the decision to write about primates, Peterson began to research the topic at libraries but soon took a more direct approach in a series of arduous trips into tropical forests around the world: starting in the coastal forests of southeastern Brazil, then floating for two thousand miles down the Amazon River from central to the eastern Amazon; exploring critical areas in West, Central, and East Africa; and proceeding from there to Madagascar, southern India, Borneo, Sumatra, and the Mentawai Islands. His proximate goal was to find the twelve most endangered primates (monkeys, apes, and prosimians) in the world. His ultimate goal was to write a book about those animals and their fate. Published in 1989, The Deluge and the Ark: A Journey into Primate Worlds was short-listed for the Sir Peter Kent Conservation Prize in Great Britain. It also attracted the attention of Dr. Jane Goodall, the pioneering primatologist, who went on to join Peterson in writing a book about the ethical issues of using chimpanzees in captivity and the conservation problems threatening chimpanzees in the wild. Translated into Chinese, German, and Polish, Visions of Caliban: On Chimpanzees and People (1993) was distinguished as a New York Times Notable Book of the Year and a Library Journal Best of the Year. [4] One snowy January day, Dale Peterson set off from Boston on a round-the-world journey in search of endangered primates--and of an understanding of the threats to their existence. The book paints a vivid portrait of the major environmental problems facing the earth. For as Dale Peterson discovered at first hand, the major threats to the survival of our primate cousins are also the major threats to our own survival. Derived from a Kirkus review: Splendid blend of travel narrative, natural history notebook, and musings on men and monkeys, as Peterson wanders the world in search of primates on the brink of extinction. Part of the charm here is Peterson's willingness to make a monkey of himself. The plight of primates, on the other hand, is for Peterson serious business--reason enough to undertake a queer sort of grail quest. In Brazil, he tracks down the muriqui (only 400 left) and golden lion tamarin; in Sierra Leone, the black-and-white colubus (often seen in America transformed into a cape or hat or muff); in Rwanda, the mountain gorilla; in Madagascar, the aye-aye (so elusive that Peterson was content to glimpse its reflective eyes in the night); in India, the lion-tailed macaque; in Borneo, the orangutan; in America, Koko the "talking" gorilla. Peterson bulks out his hunt for primates by vividly painting the odd humans along his exotic itinerary; the narrative itself is framed by valuable material on primate ethology, the history of primate hunting and primate research, and extended passages on forest ecology. Peterson concludes with much sage advice. He favors a judicious interplay of tourism and wildlife preservation; "particularly exacting medical standards" when using primates for research; intelligent "captive breeding" programs in zoos; an end to wanton deforestation--and a recognition amongst humans that primates are our closest kin, and that in saving them, we save ourselves. First-rate.