Orangutan Odyssey

Memorable, informal and attractive, this volume describes the affectionate, energetic primates among whom Galdikas has spent much of her life. Galdikas, Jane Goodall and the late Dian Fossey began their careers as students of the illustrious paleontologist Louis Leakey; all three have since gained worldwide attention for their struggles to understand and save the great apes. In fluid prose, Galdikas and Briggs (director of education at Orangutan Foundation International) describe the extinct proto-orang Gigantopithecus; laud a charismatic orang named Kusasi; examine behaviors like nest building, grooming and foraging; and explain what makes orangutans ""the best mothers in the world."" Charming and individual, orangutans also develop ingenious routines designed (for example) to render edible certain wild fruits--one that oozes latex when pierced, another whose burrs must be rubbed off on a branch. Wildlife photographer Amman adds 100 compelling color photographs, certainly part of the book's reason for existing: these show the cute Indonesian apes yawning, screaming, smiling, sniffing a flower, caressing one another's bellies and swinging from branch to branch. Galdikas and Briggs combine their warm and informal descriptions of life among the orangutans with arguments about their worrisome future. Indonesia is rapidly losing its tropical wilderness, and ""to save the orangutan, the forest must be preserved."" Some endangered animals can't be returned to the wild after being raised in captivity; for orangutans, however, raise-and-release programs are appropriate, though no substitute for saving their habitat. Final segments depict the rehabilitation programs, the forests they use and the destructive logging that threatens this species along with so many others. Jane Goodall proffers an introduction. (Dec.)