He serves as co-chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the National Chimpanzee Sanctuary Task Force and on the board of the Psychologists for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Movie rights for Next of Kin have been sold to 20th Century Fox. Chimps live for 50 years. Fouts and his wife run the Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute in Washington, where Washoe, now 32 years old, her adopted son Loulis, and three other chimps live in an open-air habitat that has become the model for zoos everywhere. Whether or not you agree with Fouts' arguments against the use of captive chimps in scientific research, after reading Next of Kin you will find less secure any wall you may have erected between humans and animals.
Nature is one great continuum.
Ken Lanterman is an assistant business editor for the Chronicle.