LION SHAPED MOUNTAIN

A primatologist who studied two wild chimpanzee communities in Africa imagines life from the animals’ perspectives as they are forced to accommodate the demands of an ever encroaching human population.

In this poignant, thought-provoking collection of stories, which Halloran calls fables, he weaves together sequential tales that reflect the impacts of two species—human and chimpanzee—on each other and on the small section of farmland and jungle that they occupy. Every action produces a reaction, and both species’ worlds change from moment to moment. While the author’s stories are fictitious, they are inspired by his observations of the behavior of the Matamba and Mabureh chimpanzee communities during his years working with the Tonkolili Chimpanzee Project in Sierra Leone. These are augmented by the oral-history conversations he had with villagers. Although there are several tales that feature the villagers, the most compelling stories star several chimpanzees, whom Halloran has named. There’s the darling, inquisitive Pip, a 3-year-old juvenile who is too young and small to survive without his mother, Mrs. Joe. And there’s Magwitch, the powerful yet compassionate Matamba alpha male. The most heart-wrenching tale is “The Inferno,” concerning an out-of-control forest fire unwittingly started by villagers burning brush. As the flames engulf the woods and the chimpanzees flee to safety, Mrs. Joe and Pip become separated. Pip wanders the forest, frightened and pitifully crying out for his mother. Unexpectedly, Magwitch picks him up and assumes responsibility for watching over him. Halloran is more than a storyteller. He composes with a philosophical and poetic grace. Here, he describes the sunrise: “The morning light passes over the individuals who have in our past, or will in our future, create the variables of our world. It passes over those we will help, those we will hurt, those we will use, those we will hate, and those we will love.” A series of appendices supplements the fables with disturbing European colonial history events and their consequences for chimpanzees.

A lovingly rendered, highly illuminating, and melancholy portrayal of an indelible group of chimpanzees.