Three astounding women scientists have in recent years penetrated the jungles of Africa and Borneo to observe, nurture, and defend humanityas closest cousins. Jane Goodall has worked with the chimpanzees of Gombe for nearly 50 years; Diane Fossey died in 1985 defending the mountain gorillas of Rwanda; and BirutA(c) Galdikas lives in intimate proximity to the orangutans of Borneo. All three began their work as protA(c)gA(c)es of the great Anglo-African archeologist Louis Leakey, and each spent years in the field, allowing the apes to become their familiarsaand ultimately waging battles to save them from extinction in the wild.Their combined accomplishments have been mind-blowing, as Goodall, Fossey, and Galdikas forever changed how we think of our closest evolutionary relatives, of ourselves, and of how to conduct good science. From the personal to the primate, Sy Montgomery explores the science, wisdom, and living experience of three of the greatest scientists of the twentieth century.