Des Moines, Iowa – August 22, 2011 – An upcoming BBC Television documentary will feature the bonobo language research program at Great Ape Trust. A crew from BBC spent three days last week shooting interviews and video of scientist Dr. Sue Savage-Rumbaugh and the bonobos Kanzi, Panbanisha and Teco. The Great Ape Trust segment will be included in a two-part documentary, Animal Einsteins, hosted by biologist and BBC Television presenter, Liz Bonnin.
“Animal Einsteins is a documentary on the intelligence of animals. We’re featuring different species to illustrate different aspects of intelligence,” said Bonnin. “We’ve been traveling all around the world looking at everything from gray whales to bonobos to crows – as many species as we can incorporate to illustrate that point.”
Discussions with Great Ape Trust about the Animal Einsteins documentary began in December 2010. Bonnin said what drew the prestigious BBC Natural History Unit to The Trust was the pioneering scientific research conducted by Savage-Rumbaugh – who was honored earlier this year as one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in the World.
During her visit to Great Ape Trust in southeast Des Moines, Bonnin spent time with the bonobos Kanzi, Panbanisha and Teco and described the experience as “overwhelming.”
“It’s more than just the intellect that’s curious – your entire emotional state is altered after meeting these wonderful beings,” said Bonnin. “For so long we have underestimated the intelligence of animals. It’s something everyone needs to be aware of because it will inevitably change the way we see ourselves, and how we define intelligence.”
Animal Einsteins is tentatively scheduled for broadcast in the United Kingdom in early 2012 and then later in the United States.
Background Information
Great Ape Trust is a scientific research facility in Des Moines, Iowa, dedicated to understanding the origins and future of culture, language, tools and intelligence, and to the preservation of endangered great apes in their natural habitats. Announced in 2002 and receiving its first ape residents in 2004, Great Ape Trust is home to a colony of seven bonobos involved in noninvasive interdisciplinary studies of their cognitive and communicative capabilities. To learn more about Great Ape Trust, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization, go to GreatApeTrust.org, BonoboHope.org, www.facebook.com/GreatApeTrust or www.twitter.com/GreatApeTrust.
