When I look at you

through all these past layers

I sometimes wonder

if I am still there

I had a girlfriend in 1996 who studied biology, and she often had to go to Burgers zoo to study the different apes there. I tried to tag along as often as possible. I am not sure if I ever met Frans de Waal, but he has written several well-known books, and I have read some of them. I met his mentor Jan Van Hoof who was a professor in Utrecht, where my girlfriend studied, and we also lived. It was fun to follow some of the lectures, but I am glad it was just for fun; she had to learn a lot.

This is a quote from Frans de Waal:

“Along with people in other creative professions, such as artists and musicians, many scientists experience this transcendence. I do so every day. For one, it’s impossible to look an ape in the eye and not see oneself. There are other animals with frontally oriented eyes, but none that give you the shock of recognitions of the ape’s. Looking back at you is not so much an animal but a personality as solid and willful as yourself.”

Franciscus Bernardus Maria “Frans” de Waal (born October 29, 1948) is a Dutch primatologist and ethologist. He is the Charles Howard Candler Professor of Primate Behavior in the Department of Psychology at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, director of the Living Links Center at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center at Emory, and author of numerous books including Chimpanzee Politics (1982) and Our Inner Ape (2005). His research centers on primate social behavior, including conflict resolution, cooperation, inequity aversion, and food-sharing

From Wikipedia

Johan Antoon Reinier Alex Maria van Hooff (born 15 May 1936) is a Dutch biologist best known for his research involving primates. He was professor of comparative physiology at Utrecht University from 1980 to 2001.

From Wikipedia