A Dark Place in the Jungle: Science, Orangutans, and Human Nature

About a year ago, I tried to sort out all the orangutan advocacy organizations, what they were doing, where the money was going, and what they were accomplishing. I sent a short questionnaire to almost two dozen organizations around the world -- and only two answered my questions. OFI sent this email response: "WHO ARE YOU?" I should have read this book instead. Linda Spalding's exploration of Borneo -- and the people who work and volunteer there -- explains so much. Her research on Birute Galdikas and Orangutan Foundation International explains more. I realize that some people are looking at this book for more info on orangutans. Spalding may not be the best author for that. But she excels in taking the reader through her search for the real Birute Galdikas. I could not put the book down, and read it over two days. Spalding's "follow" of Birute reminded me of my own confusion about why the orangutan advocacy and protections organizations are so splintered. Slowly, over the course of a couple of years and many efforts to talk to Birute, Spalding discovers the jealousies, the ineptitude, the power struggles, and the egos that are hobbling the struggle to save wild orangutans from extinction. Spalding ends the newest edition of the book with a list of hopeful developments, especially with Dr. Willie Smits and Lone Droscher-Nielson. Unfortunately, while these two individuals are doing great work [...] the orangutan advocacy community has splintered even more in the six years since that postscript. I think it's time for Spalding to do another book on the subject. I'd be glad to give her the emails I received from several of the orangutan/conservation organizations in (non)response to my questions about what they were accomplishing.

A wonderful, insightful, breathtakingly well-written book about an immensely complicated subject. I think this book breaks new ground in nature writing -- a book that is simulataneously an investigation of corruption and a meditation on our existence. Heartbreaking. I've read all of Birute's books, and this is far, far superior and balanced. This is a must-read.

Critics of this book claim that Spalding has not backed up her allegations against Galdikas. Leaving aside the fact that those allegations are not the point of the book, let me quote from the Indonesian government's own recent report about Galdikas, which Spalding has included as an epilogue:"Based on the results of this assessment, at this time in the house of Dr. Birute Galdikas were found 89 orangutans, which were held in four secret lodges placed in the forest behind the house...The condition of the place for accomodating the orangutans does not meet health standards. Isolation cages were made of metal measuring 1.5 meters x 1 meter x 1 meter. One such pen would be occupied by 3-5 orangutans. The isolation cages are placed in wooden sheds measuring 10 meters x 4 meters, each holding approximately 10 isolation cages. At the time of the inspection, the floors of the sheds [were] covered with fruit peels and feces, including diarrhea. Two of the sheds were located close to chicken pens owned by other people, and there were two dogs roaming the sheds....Wandering around were several baby orangutans with diarrhea. In one pen occupied by 3-5 baby orangutans, these babies were not free to move about, and their cages also had feces in them. Three young orangutans were found in a hut without ventilation and light, being cared for by a German tourist. One baby orangutan was feverish, while another was wearing a diaper for its diarrhea."How can Galdikas pretend to be against the private holding of orangutans, when she has been found to blatantly violating that law herself? She may claim that she is rehabilitating those orangutans, but her theories on that subject have been thoroughly discredited by the conclusions of the international scientific community, and by the rehabilitation work of Herman Rijksen and Willie Smits. I, too, have worked with the orangutans in Borneo. Why will no one mention the fact that Galdikas has not published _any_ new research in almost 20 years? Why has no one mentioned the fact she lives in a veritable mansion, that I and my fellow volunteers had to pay many thousands of dollars to help her "research," only to find out that our "research" notebooks were recently found rotting in piles? Why has no one mentioned that the Indonesian government recently yanked away Galdikas's title "consultant"?I suspect that the critics of this book are members of the Galdikas cult that tolerates no criticism of Ibu. Witness the online wars that erupted last year on various primate discussion groups; everytime anyone proposed that we wait and see what the investigation into Galdikas concluded, they were shouted down and threatened by rabid, illogical and unreasonable supporters of Galdikas. I for one, welcome this beautifully written book, and will be making it a required book for the curriculum I teach. Spalding may be criticized for pursuing her project against the will of Galdikas, but if every journa

I was really skeptical of this book since humans always have a tendency to tear each other down, and because I had seen the Outside magazine article that was so hard and cruel on Dr. Galdikas. But this book is incredibly fair and, even better, beautifully written. I came away with a greater knowledge of _two_ extraordinary women -- Galdikas and Linda Spalding. I have to say that the book presents a side of Dr. Galdikas that isn't at all flattering, and is in fact horrifying, but we have to have THE TRUTH if we're ever going to save our primate cousins from extinction, even if the truth hurts. I can't quit thinking about this book, and the beautiful animals and the beautiful country that Spalding has portrayed so incredibly well. READ IT!!!!!

I was completely blown away by this book, and had a hard time putting it down at the end. It's an extremely unusual, ethical and humane book. The orangutans of Borneo are the victims of such complex forces, and this book gave me an appreciation of these complexities. It's too simple to blame things on the Indonesian government, or to criticize Galdikas. I came away from the book appreciative of Galdikas's contributions, yet aware that no one person can be expected to save a species, and that even the most well-intentioned saviors can fall victim to temptation. Spalding ought to be a poet; her evocations of the jungle and the people around her are so lyrical and fecund. The Sekonyer river, the Dayak longhouses, the beautiful and wild forest, the crush and cacaphony of the growing towns, the buzz of the river boats, the breathtaking appearances of wild orangutans floating through treetops -- Spalding made it all vivid and real. The utter disaster -- a man-made disaster -- in the Bornean forest that threatens to wipe the orangutan off the face of the earth, is revealed in all its subtlety and complexity. I wanted to cry. This is not an indictment of one person, but of humanity in general. I have never read a book like this, and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the environment and the survival of endangered species.