The Intimate Ape

What humans and apes have in common.

by Shawn Thompson

Why chimpanzees would dance to Johnny Cash's music

Apes like music just as we do Read More

Apes, fairness and how this blog was suspended

Apes have a rudimentary sense of fairness Read More

Orangutans, Mel Gibson and the bite test

Orangutans use a bite test to the fortitude of a person Read More

Thanks for the gestalt, mate

Connecting with orangutans Read More

The man who helps orangutans find love

Willie Smits, orangutan matcher Read More

The perfection with orangutans

Life is cheap and then you get a moment of perfection in a zoo Read More

Orangutans and the absence of need

Orangutans need us less than we would like to think. Read More

When an orangutan can't get the love she wants

When a woman wants sex Read More

Feeling the life inside an orangutan

I saw a small miracle happen in Taipei today.

For the last 10 days since her second infant was born in the Taipei zoo in Taiwan, the orangutan Nu-nu has refused to let anybody see her feeding her child. The zoo staff don't even know the sex of the infant and so have not named it.

Sometimes an orangutan needs an apology. Read More

Losing the battle of wits with an orangutan

Gary Shapiro communes with an orangutan. Read More

About The Intimate Ape

The Intimate Ape gets intimate by examining orangutans through the lives of the scientists, conservationists and zoo keepers who have come to know individual orangutans personally and not as abstract members of a species. It was Shawn's personal journey, narrating the story as he travelled through Borneo and Sumatra to share the lives of people and orangutans. The life of orangutans is "secret" because orangutans are elusive, avoiding contact with people in the jungle and keeping their inner life hidden. Shawn hopes to start a companion book in 2011.