Preston seems to want readers to think that the Archibalds are merely eccentric when all his evidence points to the fact that these people are disturbed and that Jennie is filling some bizarre need in the family. Much more insightful when it comes to animals than humans, Preston hasn't worked out the Archibalds' motivations, and this omission is a serious flaw of the novel. But then Jennie hits puberty, her hormones kick in, and, predictably, she becomes uncontrollable the fate of this chimp who thinks she's human is not a pretty one. A neighbor who is a Christian minister takes it upon himself to bring Jennie to Jesus, and a primate researcher teaches her sign language. The Archibalds raise Jennie as a human child, dressing her in diapers and kids' clothes and buying her dolls and toys, and Jennie and Sandy become inseparable best friends. Hugo Archibald goes to Africa to buy chimpanzee skulls and falls in love with a baby chimp, whom he brings home to his wife, Lea, and their young children, Sandy and Sarah. A curator at the Boston Museum of Natural History, Dr. Eventually, Jennie goes to a wildlife preserve where she cannot function.Īn anthropologist and his family take a chimpanzee into their home and make more of a fuss over the animal than readers are likely to in a first novel by science writer Preston (Cities of Gold, 1992). Jennie, through her learning of ASL ( American Sign Language), starts to converse and interact with the humans around her. His young son, Sandy, becomes extremely attached to Jennie, but Archibald's daughter, Sarah, resents the chimp. Hugo Archibald delivers Jennie from her dying mother in the Cameroons and brings her home to his American family. Jennie is a chimpanzee, living in the 1970s. The ape’s numbers have plummeted due to habitat destruction, poaching, and disease.Jennie is a novel by American author Douglas Preston. The subspecies has faced an 80% population decline over the last 25 years, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. The Western chimpanzee is the only chimpanzee subspecies categorized as “critically endangered” by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, which indicates they are facing “an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.” The species has gone extinct in Benin, Burkina Faso and Togo, but still lives in some parts of West Africa, with the largest population remaining in Guinea. “He may not know it, but ZeeZee’s new baby is a small but vital boost to the global population of Western chimpanzees, at a time when it’s most needed for this critically endangered species,” Lenihan added.įollowing a decades-old tradition, Chester Zoo’s newborn will be named after a famous rock star, according to the news release. Both mother and baby are in good health, according to the zoo. It looks as though she’s taken a real shine to him, which is great to see.”Īdditionally, the tiny baby is an essential asset to the critically endangered population. “You’ll often see the new baby being passed between other females who want to lend a helping hand and give ZeeZee some well-deserved rest, and that’s exactly what her daughter, Stevie, is doing with her new brother. “A birth always creates a lot of excitement in the group and raising a youngster soon becomes a real extended family affair,” Lenihan went on. Lenihan said that the baby is already quickly becoming accepted by his extended family. “Mum ZeeZee and her new arrival instantly bonded and she’s been doing a great job of cradling him closely and caring for him.” “We’re incredibly proud to see a precious new baby in the chimpanzee troop,” said Andrew Lenihan, team manager at the zoo’s primate section, in the release. 'Miracle' elephant twins born at Rosamond Gifford Zoo Rare twin elephants were born at the Rosamond Gifford Zoo in Syracuse, New York.
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