Next of Kin: What Chimpanzees Have Taught Me about Who We Are

Roger Fouts pioneered communication with chimpanzees through sign language. This is the story of his odyssey from novice researcher to celebrity scientist to impassioned crusader for the rights of animals. At the heart of this book is his 30-year friendship with Washoe, whom we watch grow from a baby chimp fresh into the matriarch of a clan of chimpanzees. Fouts also discovered that hundreds of chimpanzees were being subjected to perilous biomedical experimentation in labs across America. He became an outspoken advocate for improved conditions for animals in research labs, & devoted himself to rescuing this generation of chimpanzees.