As his friends will admit, Dutch-born primatologist and conservation advocate Marc van Roosmalen is not a stickler for rules. Says pharmacist Jan Kaiser, who has known van Roosmalen since 1985: “He has a history of ignoring red lights. Once he borrowed my car and the low-oil light lit up. He ignored the red light and blew the engine.” Van Roosmalen has discovered several new monkey species, often by spending months searching barefoot for them in the Brazilian rainforest. But he also has collected enemies on account of his unorthodox methods and anarchic disregard for bureaucracy. Chief among them is the Amazonas state federal prosecutor’s office, which recently persuaded a Brazilian judge to sentence the scientist to a prison term of 15 years and... [Log in to read more]