Foreword / by Jane Goodall -- The uncanniness of similitude : wild men, simians, and hybrid beings -- Skeletons, skins, and skulls : apes in the age of colonial expansion and natural history collections -- Apes as guinea pigs : primates and experimental research -- Great apes in the eyes of scientists : what does it mean to be an ape? -- Apes that think they are human : astronaut apes, painting apes, talking apes -- Conquering the field : pioneers, the quest for origins, and primates -- Socialities, culture, and traditions among primates : when the boundary between humans and apes blurs -- Women and apes : sex, gender, and primatology -- Becoming-human, being-ape

A unique, beautifully illustrated exploration of our fascination with our closest primate relatives, and the development of primatology as a discipline This insightful work is a compact but wide-ranging survey of humankind’s relationship to the great apes (chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, orangutans), from antiquity to the present. Replete with fascinating historical details and anecdotes, it traces twists and turns in our construction of primate knowledge over five hundred years. Chris Herzfeld outlines the development of primatology and its key players and events, including well-known long-term field studies, notably the pioneering work by women such as Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Biruté Galdikas. Herzfeld seeks to heighten our understanding of great apes and the many ways they are like us. The reader will encounter apes living in human families, painting apes, apes who use American Sign Language, and chimpanzees who travelled in space. A philosopher and historian specializing in primatology, Herzfeld offers thought-provoking insights about our perceptions of apes, as well as the boundary between “human” and “ape” and what it means to be either.

The seventeen contributions to this volume, written by leading experts, show that animals and humans in Graeco-Roman antiquity are interconnected on a variety of different levels and that their encounters and interactions often result from their belonging to the same structures, ‘networks’ and communities or at least from finding themselves together in a certain setting, context or environment – wittingly or unwittingly. Papers explore the concrete categories of interaction between animals and humans that can be identified, in what contexts they occur, and what types of evidence can be productively used to examine the concept of interactions. Articles in this volume take into account literary, visual, and other types of evidence. A comprehensive research bibliography is also provided.