Miles was raised by her brother and has two other non-biological brothers.[1] In 1978, she earned her PhD in anthropology from the University of Connecticut.[2] Since 1993, she has lived in Atlanta, Georgia in order to be able to visit Chantek after he was transferred to the Yerkes National Primate Research Center and was sharing the responsibility for Chantek with her colleague Ann Southcombe who for seven years kept visiting Chantek.
Miles advocates that no enculturated great apes should be treated as captive experimental animals, but as true "orang utans", which means "persons of the forest", and eventually be declared as legal persons under the law.[1] She is a strong supporter of orangutan conservation.[2]
Parker, S. T., Mitchell, R. W., & Miles, H. L. (Eds.). (1999). The mentality of gorillas and orangutans. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Miles, H. L. (1997). Anthropomorphism, apes and language. In R. W. Mitchell, N. S. Thompson, & H. L. Miles (Eds.), Anthropomorphism, anecdotes, and animals, pp. 383–404. Albany, NY: State University of New York.
Miles, H. L. (1994). ME CHANTEK: The development of self-awareness in a signing orangutan. In S. Parker, R. Mitchell, & M. Boccia (Eds.), Self-awareness in monkeys and apes: Developmental Perspectives (pp. 254–272). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Miles, H. L. (1986). How can I tell a lie? Apes, language and the problem of deception. In R. W. Mitchell, & N. S. Thompson (Eds.), Deception: Perspectives on human and nonhuman deceit (pp. 245–266). Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
