Tim Laman and Cheryl Knot

Tim Laman and Cheryl Knott are not your typical married couple. Laman is a field biologist and wildlife photojournalist whose striking images of spiked-nosed tree frogs, probiscus monkeys and other little-known species have graced the pages of National Geographic many times. His delightfl 2013 Mountainfilm presentation on birds of paradise with Edwin Scholes remains a favorite with audiences, and along with birds he’s spent much of his career studying and photographing orangutans.

Knott, meanwhile, is a biological anthropologist, accomplished primatologist and college professor who specializes in great ape behavior.

Recently, with their two children in tow, the couple lived and worked in Borneo’s Gunung Palung National Park, one of a diminishing number of orangutan habitats on Earth, where they studied, documented and revealed critical threats to the survival of these compelling animals. Their work is chronicled in Person of the forest.