Next of Kin

I read a really interesting book a couple of weeks back called Next of Kin by Rodger Fouts. He is the man that taught the chimpanzee Lucy (previous post) sign language.
It's a fantastic story, and all true which makes it even better!He spent his entire career studying chimps, and even sacrificed personal opportunity for the sake of one chimpanzee named Washoe. Washoe was the first chimp to live with the Temerlin's (the same husband and wife who would later bring home Lucy). And that is where the story begins. The book is as much an autobiography of the author as it is about chimpanzees, and as I read on I came to see how it couldn't have been written in any other way. Washoe was not an "experiment" to Fouts the way Lucy was to the Timerlins (no matter what they said afterward). Washoe was a part of his life, in the same way his family and friends were. And that was the way he told it. I found that to be the most interesting part of the story. It's like Marley and Me, but with chimpanzees. She (Washoe was a girl, named after the county in Nevada where she was raised as a child) was raised in captivity, but had such a wonderful (in my opinion) life because of the respect Roger had for her. It's incredible to read about her, and the book spans most of her life. It's surprising to see how she changed and grew as she became an adult. It was strikingly similar to us humans. When she was young she always got into trouble. She tried to bend rules and push limits. But when she got older and she became more responsible, and more thoughtful. She took it upon herself to care for those around her.
A couple parts of the book that I found especially unbelievable were when one of the women who worked with Washoe became pregnant, and then had a miscarriage. When she explained to Washoe that the baby was dead, Washoe signed "CRY, CRY" because she too had experienced the loss of a baby. Or another instance where Roger was asked by a TV station, and Hugh Downs, to visit a chip named Booee that had been one of his "students" years before. After not having seen Roger in over a decade, and after being infected with hepatitis C, and confined to 5x5x5 metal cage with no blankets or toys for 13 years, Booee responded to Roger by signing "ME BOOEE. GIVE ME FOOD ROGER."
It was so..inspiring and so sad at the same time. Not for Washoe, but for a lot of chimps that fell through the cracks along the way.
I hope this inspires all of you to learn about our closest relatives, and to appreciate the price they have paid at our expense. I am no animal activist...or at least I don't think I am, but in this instance I feel very strongly that we need to understand the level of awareness and consciousness that chimpanzees possess. They aren't just "animals". At least not any more than we are.