QUEEN KONG: a feminine law of the jungle

Shelly Masi

Éditions Albin Michel, 336 pages, 2025

Why you should take a look at it:
√  An eye-opening read that profoundly changes our perception of primates
√ A humorous and passionate book where science and storytelling meet
√ Based on decades of research by a leading expert on gorillas

We all have the image of mountain gorillas given to us by Dian Fossey in Gorillas in the Mist: a placid giant feeding on grass, surrounded by submissive females. During twenty-five years of research studying lowland gorillas in the Central African Republic rainforest alongside Bayaka trackers, primatologist Shelly Masi has discovered a different reality. 

Taking us deep into the heart of the jungle, Masi paints with humor and scientific insight the portrait of a primate society at once rebellious and complex, where females take center stage in surprising ways. Masi’s research overturns many preconceived ideas about the dominance of male gorillas.  She observes a society that is certainly macho in appearance, but where females decide where to lead the group before coordinating the next trekking itinerary, where they choose their sexual partners, change them if necessary, and even form their own group leaving behind the powerful “silverback.” 

In this enlightening book, Masi shares her passion for gorillas, her coming of age as a young primatologist, the thrill of scientific discoveries and the essential collaboration and knowledge of Bayaka trackers. Above all, she wishes us to understand that the extinction around the world of non-human primates means not only the disappearance of animals that are essential to the ecosystem and well-being of the planet, but also the closing of the only window open onto our origins.

Shelly Masi is a primatologist and lecturer at the Paris National Museum of Natural History. She is France's leading expert on gorillas studying having studying since 2000 during her first trip to the Dzanga-Ndoki National Park in the Central African Republic.