"Orangutans, the fabled red apes of the forests of Indonesia, share 97 percent of the biological makeup of human beings. But it is not for this reason alone that they have captured the interest and attention of scientists and naturalists. They are remarkable animals in their own right, living solitary and peaceful lives in the tree canopy of the dense tropical rain forest of the Indonesian islands of Borneo and Sumatra.

Subsisting on fruit, leaves, and other vegetation, they interact very little with other animals and pose a threat to none. But their own existence is now endangered by poaching, forest cutting, and gold mining, which are reducing at a great rate the pristine forest areas that orangutans require to live.".

"Now, for the first time, Birute Galdikas, the world's leading authority on orangutans, offers a rich picture of their life based on her intimate observation of hundreds of the animals in their native habitat; she spends as much as six months every year in her research camp at the edge of Tanjung Puting National Park near Kalimantan, Borneo.

She has succeeded not only in rescuing several hundred wild-born orangutans previously held as pets or in substandard zoos, but also in studying the life cycles and behavior of both wild and semiwild animals, with particular attention to mothers and their young. The results of her knowledge inform the text of this remarkable book."--BOOK JACKET.