Brutal Kinship

Brutal Kinship explores the relationship between humankind and its closest relative, the chimpanzee, presenting these extraordinary animals in the wild, in captivity, and in sanctuaries created expressly for their protection. In his revealing photographs and commentary drawn from her firsthand experiences, Michael Nichols and Jane Goodall join forces to present the ways in which chimpanzees are physically, emotionally, and intellectually closer to us than we ever imagined, and how, paradoxically, humans have forced them into a more human yet sadly less humane existence. ''Once we accept or even suspect that humans are not the only animals . . . to know mental as well as physical suffering,'' writes Goodall, ''we become less arrogant, a little less sure that we have the inalienable right to make use of other life forms in any way we please.'' In Brutal Kinship, one of the most superb animal photographers working today reveals the fine line between probing inquiry and mistreatment of these creatures-or between love and exploitation of them-in practices like circuses, animal testing, the use of chimps as pets, and even the marriage of a man to a chimp.