Apes and Monkeys

Description

Garner’s narrative combines adventure, observation, and speculative science. He recounts his efforts to transcribe the vocalizations of chimpanzees, attempting to decode a potential language system. Using early recording technology and phonetic transcription, he documents gestures, expressions, and responses, building what he believes could be a lexicon of primate speech. Garner’s methods, while now dated, reflect a deep curiosity and a bold effort to bridge the human-animal divide.

Beyond its scientific claims, the book captures the colonial-era mindset in which Western researchers explored “exotic” lands in search of knowledge. Garner describes his travels through equatorial Africa, detailing not only encounters with animals but also interactions with local communities, often through a Eurocentric lens. Still, Apes and Monkeys remains a significant early contribution to ethology and animal communication studies, marking one of the first attempts to treat primate behavior as meaningfully communicative rather than instinctual.