globeandmail.com: Moment with orangutan inspired ethicist

globeandmail.com: Moment with orangutan inspired ethicist

There might be no better way to gauge connection than to look straight into the eyes of another.

If Kerry Bowman didn't know this before, he learned it soon enough when he peered through the Sumatran rain forest to find an orangutan, right there at ground level.

"He looked up, and when we had eye contact, it was a very powerful experience," Mr. Bowman says, recalling a 1980s work stint, in the midst of his post-university travels, when he helped document the great apes' movements.

"When my eyes caught his eyes, I just felt nothing different than as if I was coming across a human."