Not surprisingly, I am drawn to non-human primates:  pygmy marmosets, lemurs, gibbons, gorillas, orangutans, chimpanzees -- you name it.  Their so-close-to-human mannerisms and their visible intelligence rivet me.  Their dexterous fingers, their ability to laugh and play, the way they seem to search our eyes for the same things we search for in theirs all contribute to my sense of kinship.  How could anyone resist them?  I’ve learned, however, that for every person like me who cannot get enough, there is someone who is disgusted by non-human primates on a deep, visceral level.  I suspect that these two very different reactions stem from the same truth about apes and monkeys, that they are not far removed from who we are.  To some, this truth is fascinating, but to others, it is disturbing.

Our natural inclination to preserve our own species makes it uncomfortable to see ourselves in other animals since such an acknowledgement would require re-evaluation of how we treat our cousins.  We are the dominant species on this planet, and we don’t like our position to be challenged.  Our intelligence, however, gives us an amazing gift: to be able rise about our instinct to preserve only our own kind and to extend protection to other species.  These animals, whether they disturb us or not, depend on the integrity of our actions.  If they can find themselves on the brink of extinction, then some day we may be facing the same fate. 

Copyright 2008 by Debbie Lee Wesselmann