Alan Mootnick

I was greatly saddened to learn of the death of Alan Mootnick, a man little known to the public but renowned among primatologists and conservationists. Alan parlayed a lifelong love of gibbons—the smallest, most species-rich yet most endangered of the great apes—into being not only a powerful force for the protection of these wonderful creatures, but also a legitimately respected scientist, despite having no formal degree in biology. Alan’s Gibbon Conservation Center, north of Los Angeles, houses breeding gibbon families while also sponsoring crucial anti-poaching initiatives and habitat preservation in southeast Asia.

White-handed Gibbon (from Wikipedia)

My goal right now, however, isn’t to…

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