Gorilla Doctors:Saving Endangered Great Apes (Scientists in the Field Series)

by Pamela S. Turner

Paper Book, 2005

Status

Available

Call number

333.95

Publication

HMH Books for Young Readers (2005), Hardcover, 64 pages

Description

Mountain gorillas are one of the most endangered species in the world. Now they are facing a new threat, from the very tourism that is helping to protect them: exposure to human disease. This is the story of the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project and its work to provide medical care to the gorillas.

User reviews

LibraryThing member abbylibrarian

Okay, you knew that humans and apes were genetically close. But did you know that humans and chimps are so close that you could get a blood transfusion from a chimp? Or that apes can catch human diseases? It's true. And that's one factor in the disappearing gorilla population (other factors are

poachers and loss of habitat). This book is about a team of scientists that works to prevent gorillas from catching human diseases and to treat them when they become sick. It's interesting and informative, giving a little bit of history behind the study and conservation of gorillas and how that's led to where we are now. If you're an animal lover, pick up this book! A great entry in the Scientists in the Field series.

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LibraryThing member sarahbatte

A story about gorrilla's. Gorilla's are alot like humans. They can even catch the same diseases as humans. The scientist in this book try to protect the gorilla's from poachers giving and taking bllod form gorilla's. This book is very informative and interesting.

LibraryThing member jmvarnad

This was a great book about scientist who study and protect African Gorillas. It tell about 3 three doctors who work together to help preserve these amazing animals. This book was a great inspiration.

LibraryThing member alexcirasuolo

This is another great book by Pamela Turner. the photographs are not as good as they could be but the text itself is excellent.

LibraryThing member Sandra_Loya

This book tells of the importance of veterinarians that work in the national park systems in Africa. It discusses how diseases spread among the gorilla as well as how they help the species survive. It tells how they track them, monitor their health, and give them medical care all with little

disruption to their natural state as possible. The details and information in this book are amazing. Not only does it discuss how the veterinarians and the gorillas live but also includes the culture and lifestyles of those living around the national parks.

It is filled with great quality, colorful photographs that bring the story to life. There are maps so that you can see geographically where they are talking about. I found myself referring to them often. There are also many charts covering diseases and populations. There is a dedication at the front but no table of contents although the chapter titles are quite descriptive. The end mentions making a donation to the project to help as well as listing books and web sites that you can go to to learn more. There is a postscript to update you on the gorillas and their population. The acknowledgements give credit to those involved with the project and book. On the last page, there is an index and they Library of Congress information that is typically at the front that I searched for a long time to find before I finally saw that it was on the last page.

I am guessing the target audience would be 4th through 8th graders but I found it interesting as well. My 10 and 12 year old daughters read this and loved it. It drew us in and we could not put it down until we got to the end. We wanted to know what happened to each gorilla. We became invested in them. The author's writing style was informative but she used a narrative format to keep you interested.

This book would obviously be great in a science classroom but could easily be used in a math classroom as well. The maps could be used for distances and area. Population numbers could be charted and graphed. Prediction equations could be used to predict what the future populations may look like. Instead of just using a boring textbook, the students would truly become engaged with the real life scenarios put forth in this book.

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LibraryThing member AdrienneWood

What really hurts the Mountain Gorilla? At first glance one thinks "poachers"... but a deeper look makes you understand the terrible effect that humans have on the amazing creatures (and many others). Whether it be overconsumption of land or spreading disease, it is clear that we are a threat to

the other creatures on this planet. Good news is, that we can change that.

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LibraryThing member MeganSchneider

Takes you through the day of scientists working with mountain gorilla in a national park. At first the main concern was keeping them safe from poachers, but the doctors come to find out that one thing hurting the gorillas was themselves. Throughout the book, it uses science and the scientific

method to answer the questions "Are gorilla catching human diseases?" Although the book leaves you without a definitive answer to this question, they did find overwhelming evidence to this being an extremely likely possibility and have now adding many precautions to protect gorillas from the spread of disease from human to ape. This book was be an awesome illustration of science in the field. It also illustrates the diversity of what a scientist could be. Many of the scientists shown in this book are African American males, a huge underrepresented population with science, and females, another one. Not to mention, everyone loves apes!

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