91��ɫ

Ten academics, including and , professors emeriti at Glendon College, and , distinguished research professor in philosophy & psychology in 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Health and director of the , wrote in which they respond to a review essay that compared a fictional account of bonobos (Sara Gruen’s Ape House) with a nonfiction book on apes (Jon Cohen’s Almost Chimpanzee):

In her essay (Sept. 12), Jennifer Schuessler concocts a peculiar mash-up. The pairing of a fictional account of bonobos (Sara Gruen’s ) with a nonfiction book on apes (Jon Cohen’s “Almost Chimpanzee”) makes some sense; Gruen grounded her novel in visits to real-life bonobos at the Great Ape Trust in Iowa, a place also visited by Cohen.

But lest readers be led astray, we wish to clarify that the Great Ape Trust is in no way connected with Marc Hauser, the Harvard scientist mentioned in the essay who has been accused of falsifying data in his primate studies. For those with serious interest about the research into the language abilities of bonobos, extensive video documentation is freely available on the Internet, including material at .

We are scientists who have worked closely with Sue Savage-Rumbaugh and her colleagues at the , and/or have observed and interacted with the bonobos. We teach and write about the work impugned in the Book Review — because we respect its scientific integrity, because it has powerfully transformed our understanding of what apes are capable of, and because, through it, we grasp more fully what it means to share our world with other sentient creatures.

Benson and Greaves, members of Glendon’s , traveled to the United States to meet with earlier this year.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin