Pink Boots and a Machete

FOREWORD

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

INTRODUCTION

Chapter 1
GIRL SCOUT REJECT

Chapter 2
ANTITHESIS OF A SCIENTIST

Chapter 3
CHEERLEADER IN THE MIST

Chapter 4
SEDUCED BY SIFAKAS

Chapter 5
CAUGHT ON FILM

Chapter 6
DON'T LET THE LIP GLOSS FOOL YOU

Chapter 7
GORILLA WARFARE

Chapter 8
KING KONG IN MY POCKET

Chapter 9
SHARKS, SQUID INK, AND A FRYING PAN

Photographic Insert

Chapter 10
MY FEAR OF HEIGHTS CONQUERED (SORT OF)

Chapter 11
LEOPARD ON A GURNEY

Chapter 12
THE VAIN GIRL'S GUIDE TO SURVIVAL

Chapter 13
A NEAR DISASTER, I PRESUME?

Chapter 14
MACHISMO, GORILLA PORN, AND MY WORM

Chapter 15
EXPEDITION: LIFE

Dr. Mireya Mayor reminds me a little of myself. Like me, she loved being with animals when she was a child. Like me she imagined herself trekking into far off jungles. And like me she followed her dream until it became reality.

As a small girl growing up in England I spent hours alone up my most special beech tree in our garden, getting close to the birds; reading about Tarzan of the Apes; and daydreaming how I would grow up, go to Africa, live with animals, and write books about them. In those days girls did not have such adventurous opportunities—everyone laughed at me. Anyway, we had little money, Africa was far away, no tourists flew back and forth, and World War II was raging. So I studied the insects and birds in our garden and walked with my beloved dog, Rusty, on the cliffs rising up from the beach.

Mireya also began her career in her backyard, in Little Havana. She too spent hours in her special tree—hers was a mango. She watched lizards, she kept a variety of insects and other creatures in her house, she cared for stray dogs. She and I both made observations on chickens. We both had strong mothers and grandmothers. And we both owe a great deal to the National Geographic Society, which helped us to achieve our goals.

My dream led me to Africa to observe wild chimpanzees; Mireya's led her to the rain forests of Latin America, Central Africa, Madagascar, and various other exotic locations, including into the depths of the ocean. We both ended up as primatologists with Ph.D.s. I discovered that among other unexpected skills, chimpanzees have the ability to use and make tools. Mireya discovered a species of mouse lemur new to science—and persuaded the prime minister in Madagascar to create a national park to ensure its protection. Indeed, we are both passion
ate about conservation of the wild places where we love to be.

But whereas I stayed in the same place with my chimpanzees for years, Mireya is a true adventurer whose concern for a number of critically endangered animals has led her to explore some of the most remote places left on the planet. These journeys exposed her, time and again, to very real dangers, from charging gorillas and great white sharks to sinister bacteria that invaded her body in a place far from any hospital.

Pink Boots and a Machete
is a wonderful read, spiced with descriptions of the lighter, more humorous aspects of a life spent in wild, unconventional places. But it also details the very serious side of Mireya's research. Indeed, throughout the book, Mireya the scientist is very much present. I have had the opportunity to meet many researchers and conservationists, and some of them stand out. Mireya Mayor is one of them.

Not only does this extraordinary woman have the courage and fortitude for the explorations she undertakes but she has the intellectual curiosity to answer questions previously unanswered. And she has the kind of imagination and sense of wonder that leads her to ask the right kind of questions.

Mireya understands the importance of spreading her conservation message, and she frequently speaks at colleges and universities, inspiring young people, especially women, to follow their dreams no matter how impossible it may seem to do so. She is the living embodiment of someone who did just that and who is still, vividly and enthusiastically, living and loving her childhood dream.

Jane Goodall Ph.D., DBE
Founder, Jane Goodall Institute
and UN Messenger of Peace
www.janegoodall.org

Thanks to all who devote their lives to nature, inspiring others to
marvel at its beauty, revel in its wonder, and protect its existence.

There are many critically endangered animals that need your help. If you have any questions or would like to sponsor an animal or make a donation that will help protect some of these endangered animals and places, please email me at [email protected].

You can follow updates for my upcoming shows and track my adventures at
www.mireyamayor.com.

To help orphan chimpanzees, please visit the Jane Goodall Institute at
www.janegoodall.org.

 

There are many people whose love, talent, and support made this book possible—far more than I have space to include here. Thank you all of you—you know who you are.

My beautiful daughters, Emma and Ava, whose mere presence could make me smile during the most frustrating of times, inspired me and motivated me to want to make the world a better place, even before they were born.

Thanks to the three most influential women and people in my life, my mother—my grandmother, and my aunt—whose patience, support, and unconditional love carried me through the best and most trying times:

• Mami, thank you for always encouraging me to follow my dreams and for enabling my animal habit. I could never thank you enough for believing in me and for encouraging me to pursue the unimaginable with or without fear.
  
• Mima, your strength and resolve gave me my own strength to attempt the seemingly unimaginable.
  
• Tia Ica, thank you for paying for my braces when I was a kid, so that monkeys wouldn't now laugh at my teeth, and giving critics less ammunition.
  

Special thanks to Emilio, my cousin, who is like a brother, for being the man of the house, and for all the beautiful letters he wrote while we were oceans apart.

I wish to thank my family for their patience and support during all the years and holidays I spent away from them so that I could pursue my dream. Many thanks also for accepting late-night phone calls due to time zone differences.

A special thank-you to my graduate adviser, Dr. Patricia Wright, for always encouraging me and filling me with hope. Whether sharing a tent, partying with the villagers, or meeting with government officials, it was always an honor to explore Madagascar with her.

I am also grateful to Dr. Linda Taylor for awakening my curiosity and love of primates, and for inspiring me to pursue this field. Her unceasing support and guidance, and glowing letters of recommendation, have opened many doors.

I am grateful to Dr. Edward Louis for tremendous help in collecting samples, and for teaching me lab techniques at Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha. His academic guidance and friendship were without equal.

I am indebted to the National Geographic Society Committee for Research and Exploration for its long-term financial support. Conservation International and Primate Conservation Incorporated have also provided key finances for my expeditions.

A special thanks to Tim Kelly, David Royle, Geoff Daniels, Maryanne Culpepper, and Keenan Smart for taking a chance on me and enabling me to share and speak my wonder to a large audience.
Also, thanks to all the field producers, assistant producers, researchers, and countless others (too many to name) at the National Geographic Society for their shared enthusiasm and insatiable thirst for uncovering nature and wildlife.

I am very grateful to Ashley Hoppin for her friendship and for presenting me and my research to National Geographic.

Collective thanks are expressed to my friends, professors, Stony Brook University staff, and colleagues who helped me at various stages of my research.

To the governing agencies that have granted me permission to research their national treasures and landscapes, thank you. Also, to all of the amazing people in the villages I've traveled through in far and remote places, thank you for your kindness, generosity, and hospitality.

Thank you, Elizabeth “Symmie” Newhouse, for your excellent editing, making my crazy adventures take a readable form.

Thank you, Jes Alexander, for going beyond the call of friendship and reading every single draft of this book.

Thank you to my agent, Eric Lupfer, for translating all the legal stuff I don't understand and for being awesome.

Thank you, National Geographic Book Division's Editor in Chief Barbara Brownell and the editor of this book, Susan Straight, for believing in my work and making it possible for me to share my story.

And finally, my husband, Roland Wolff, who is last on this list but first in my heart. Without his love and undying support I could not have written this book or continued to pursue my research and explorations. Thanks LOML, I couldn't have done any of this without you. For always supporting me, even when you deserved more than I could give,
thank you
.