Gorilla Doctors: Saving Endangered Great Apes
“Clearly Turner is committed to telling an important story with accuracy, and she has the literary prowess for the job.”
—San Francisco Chronicle
About the Book
Mountain gorillas are playful, curious, and fiercely protective of their families. They are also one of the most endangered species in the world. For many years, gorillas have faced death at the hands of poachers. More recently, “gorilla tourism”—bringing people into the forest to see these majestic animals—has helped protect gorillas from poaching. Yet close contact between gorillas and people has created a new threat to mountain gorillas: human disease.
The Gorilla Doctors are a group of courageous and talented scientists working to save the mountain gorillas. They study the effects of human exposure, provide emergency care to injured animals, and even act as foster parents to an orphaned baby gorilla named Fearless!
Awards and Recognition
- American Library Association Notable Book
- Flora Stiglitz Straus Nonfiction Award
- ASPCA Henry Bergh Award
- Kirkus Reviews starred review
- Horn Book starred review
- School Library Journal starred review
- Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year
- National Science Teachers Association Outstanding
- Science Trade Book
- Junior Library Guild Selection
Reviews
Kirkus Reviews Best Books of 2005:
“This is a fascinating look into the work of the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project. Illustrated with stunning photographs, it is a stellar example of children’s nonfiction and a demonstration of why Houghton’s Scientists in the Field series has become something of the gold standard in science writing. From a gripping opening, in which a gorilla captured by poachers is freed, Turner goes back to write about both the discovery of the mountain gorillas by scientists and their decline, and then details the efforts of the MGVP to save them. She writes equally compellingly about the gorillas, and the threats to their well-being, and the humans who work so diligently on their behalf.”
The San Francisco Chronicle:
“This new addition to the Scientists in the Field series represents the best in science writing. Clearly Turner is committed to telling an important story with accuracy, and she has the literary prowess for the job.”
School Library Journal starred review:
“Turner introduces the work of the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project … the readable text records their efforts to treat the great apes in the field as they encounter poachers, meet with the loss of habitat, and face their newest threat: disease that can cross species lines.”
Horn Book starred review:
“Excellent photographs prominently feature the scientists at work (predominantly women and people of color in scientific roles) as well as the photogenic gorillas …”
Kirkus Reviews starred review:
“What to do when a wild gorilla has the flu? Time to send for a field veterinarian like Dr. Felicia Nutter of Rwanda’s Mountain Gorilla Project. This vet makes jungle calls, tracking down and treating the ailing gorilla in the wild … An outstanding nature science title.”
Scientists in the Field
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2008
paperback ISBN 978–0547014333
