gibbons

Why did I decide to write a book about gibbons? That's a good question, especially as I have never written a book about animals before...

      I will begin by saying that I am a big supporter of the underdog, or in this case the "under-ape" (though perhaps that's not quite the right term, given how high up in the trees that gibbons live).  It seems to me that books are typically written about unusual subjecrts, topics that are often ignored. Those ar ethe kinds of subjects that appeal to me most. For instance, I have spent most of my life researching and writing about an Aboriginal language, Wendat (Huron), which long ago lost its last speaker, and had no one writing about it. So I learned everything I could and have written many books about the Wendat language. It is the same with gibbons. They are charming animals. Gibbons created a space in the heart of myself and my wife Angie.

     Another reason is that gibbons are invisible in the West (by which I mean urope and North America). The big organizations that represent and advocated for nimals, particularly endangered animals, do not speak or write about or show pictures of gibbons. They prefer to talk about the already known, the familiar.