The Ape Wears Prada

I am a mammal. Standing upright, I’m about five feet, six and a half inches tall. Atop my head is a pelt of brown fur, which also grows on my limbs, though thankfully to a lesser extent. My bones and muscle are covered with a pinkish-beige colored skin. I have a pair of eyes, greenish-brown. I don’t live in a tree, but I can climb them pretty well.

You’ve likely figured out that I belong to the species known as homo sapiens, as does science writer Hannah Holmes. She’s wondered why we don’t talk about ourselves the same way we talk about other members of the animal kingdom. So she launched a complete study of the human animal, charting the similarites and differences with other species.

The result is The Well-Dressed Ape: A Natural History of Myself. She’ll be reading from her new book tonight at River Run Bookstore in Portsmouth. We welcomed her to Word of Mouth for her thoughts on this strange creature, the human being.

(Photo by danja vasiliev)