Next of kin
Subtitle: what chimpanzees have taught me about who we are
By: Roger Fouts with Stephen Tukel Mills ; introduction by Jane Goodall.
Contributors: Mills, Stephen Tukel.
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: William Morrow; William Morrow & Co
Published: 1997
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 420
Subjects: Fouts, Roger; Experimental psychologists -- United States -- Biography; Washoe (Chimpanzee); Human-animal communication
Description: Roger Fouts fulfilled humankind's age-old dream of talking to animals by pioneering communication with chimpanzees through sign language. His decades of groundbreaking work with these amazing animals - who share more than 98 percent of our DNA - made scientific history as their unprecedented dialogues opened a window into chimpanzee consciousness and the origins of human language and intelligence.

Now, in Next of Kin, Fouts tells the dramatic story of his personal and professional odyssey from novice researcher to celebrity scientist to impassioned crusader for the rights of animals.

At the heart of this captivating book is Fouts's magical thirty-year friendship with Washoe, whom we watch grow from a mischievous baby chimp fresh out of the NASA space program into the matriarch of a clan of chimpanzees who fill these pages with tales of humor and heartbreak, pathos and love. Living and conversing with these sensitive creatures has given Fouts a profound appreciation of how much we share with our closest biological relatives, and what they can teach us about ourselves.

Fouts also describes the crisis of conscience he faced when he discovered that hundreds of chimpanzees were being subjected to perilous biomedical experimentation in laboratories across America. At significant risk to his own career, he became an outspoken advocate for improved conditions for animals in research labs, and devoted himself to rescuing this lost generation of chimpanzees.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [392]-407) and index.
"A living planet book."