Historical April 1986 report or notice. Original dates, prices and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
Gorillas in the Mist by Dian Fossey, Houghton, Mifflin, 1983 Gentle readers, let me lead you into the rain-swept jungles of the mountains of Zaire, Uganda, and Rwanda where Dian Fossey spent 15 years of her life and became the world’s leading authority on the mountain gorilla.
Her love for these animals is witnessed in every page of this book.
It takes love to track these animals through the jungle sniffing dung deposits.
She learned that the two-legged approach made the animals nervous. Gorillas, especially the silverback males, made hair-raising screaches as they bound through the jungle.
However, within their cohesive family groups, they are gentle vegetarians and will go to great lengths to avoid combat. Fossey found in her conservation studies whole families of gorillas were being decimated by poachers.
However, there is a sad epilogue to my book review.
At age 53, Dian Fossey died a violent death at her isolated camp in Rwanda on December 27, 1985.
She often said that she preferred the company of her mountain gorillas to people, and she was buried in a gorilla graveyard. Fossey was often at odds with the local population, mostly poachers.
It was reported that in 1980 she abducted the child of a local woman suspected of stealing a gorilla and would not return the baby unless the gorilla was returned.
There are only 240 of these rare primates so one hopes another naturalist will continue Fossey’s work or else the great ape is drifting toward extinction.
The Gorilla Signs Love by Barbara Brenner, Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books, 1984. Maggie won a prize because of her high school science project communicating with gorillas.
She finds herself in the rain-swept mountains of Africa in a camp with gorilla researcher Charlotte Wingate.
A gorilla named Naomi takes to her and, as time goes on, Maggie teaches her to communicate in sign language.
A handsome, young Australian arrives in camp on a secret mission and becomes friends with Maggie.
At this point lots of things begin to happen.
This is a young adult book full of suspense and adventure.
No Bad Dogs by Barbara Woodhouse, Summit Books, 1982. Barbara Woodhouse’s famous techniques with the unharmful, large-linked collars are explained and illustated. I’ve seen many people training their dogs this way on the pavement across from the Kiosk, so I wanted to mention this book. Good Cats, The complete guide to cat training by Elizabeth and Michael Kaplan.
This is a humorous and helpful book for cat owners. How to Talk to your Cat by Patricia Moyes, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1978. Patricia Moyes is one of my favorite mystery writers.
This is an excellent book on communicating with cats and can teach you what the cat’s body language means.
Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, April 1986.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times1986_04.pdf, printed page(s) 7; PDF page(s) 7.
