My Family Album

For more than three decades Frans de Waal, the author of books such as "Chimpanzee Politics" and "Bonobo: The Forgotten Ape", has studied monkeys and apes in zoos, research parks and field settings. Photographing his subjects over the years, de Waal has compiled a unique family album of our closest animal relatives. To capture the social life of primates, and their natural communication, requires intimate knowledge, which is abundantly present here, in the work of one of the world's foremost primatologists. Culled from the thousands of images de Waal has taken, these photographs capture social interaction in bonobos, chimpanzees, capuchin monkeys, baboons and macaques showing the subtle gestures, expressions and movements that elude most nature photographers or casual observers. De Waal supplied extended captions discussing each photograph, offering descriptions that range from personal observations and impressions to professional interpretation. The result is a view of our primate family that is both moving and personal, and also richly evocative of all that science can tell us of primate society. In his introduction, de Waal elaborates on his work, his mission in this volume, and the particular challenges of animal action photography.