Welcome to my blog where I will be bringing you updates from my life. But first, let me cite a paragraph from my own book Reflections of Eden. I hope that my blog will present my feelings and some insightful reflections on the issues facing orangutans and forests as well as Borneo and its native people, the Dayaks.
“Our departure from Eden allows us reflection – reflection on our origin and our relations to other creatures, reflection on good and evil, and ultimately, reflection on the possibility that we are engineering our own extinction. Never having left Eden, our innocent pongid kin are not burdened with this knowledge and the responsibility it entails. Looking into the calm, unblinking eyes of an orangutan we see, as through a series of mirrors, not only the image of our own creation but also a reflection of our own souls and an Eden that once was ours. And on occasion, fleetingly, just for a nanosecond, but with an intensity that is shocking in its profoundness, we recognize that there is no separation between ourselves and nature. We are allowed to see the eyes of God.” (excerpt from Refelctions of Eden)
Scientist, conservationist, educator: for almost four decades Dr. Biruté Mary Galdikas has studied and worked closely with the orangutans of Indonesian Borneo in their natural habitat, and is today the world’s foremost authority on the orangutan.
23. May 2009
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