Des Moines, Iowa - January 9, 2012 -- Great Ape Trust, a scientific research facility, and Bonobo Hope, a charitable organization, are teaming up to launch an international fund raising effort to support bonobos around the world and in Des Moines' own backyard. The Trust is a scientific research facility in Des Moines, Iowa which houses seven bonobos and is dedicated to understanding the origins and future of culture, language, tools and intelligence.
Through 2011, Great Ape Trust was solely supported by its founder Ted Townsend. Now that this funding period has ended, the Trust is partnering with Bonobo Hope to become self-supporting.
Dr. Sue Savage-Rumbaugh - Trust senior scientist, Bonobo Hope president, and one of TIME magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2011 - is spearheading a joint fund raising effort to keep Great Ape Trust operational. She reports that Bonobo Hope has had a wonderful start during the first week of its establishment, but that more help is urgently needed to keep the doors open and the bonobos secure and together.
Bonobo Hope was created to further the mutual understanding between bonobos and human beings through cross-generational and cross-cultural research with the current bi-cultural (human/bonobo) family that resides at the Trust, as well as to develop 21st century habitat design, public education and conservation practices in partnership with the Bonobo Conservation Initiative (BCI). Bonobo Hope's initial focus is on the family of bonobos currently residing at Great Ape Trust, which has a decades-long history of bi-cultural rearing and science.
"This pioneering research has yielded uniquely rich and exciting findings, including the discovery of important bonobo capacities previously thought to be only possessed by humans," said Savage-Rumbaugh. "Bonobo Hope plans to help fund and conduct that continuing cross-generational research and resulting outreach, as well as to help ensure the bonobos' continued well-being and development."
Ted Townsend, founder of the Trust, is enthusiastic about this new partnership.
"Since first meeting Dr. Sue Savage-Rumbaugh and the bonobos, I have invested in only three priorities for them: The welfare of these invaluable apes; the future of their amazing research and establishing a unique distinction for my home state," he said. "It was understood from the start that my role was temporary and eventually a different structure would be needed for long term stability. With a new board, new chair, and now a new partner in Bonobo Hope, I am very confident the future of Great Ape Trust in Iowa is bright and secure. I fully and enthusiastically support this direction and leadership."
Dr. Kenneth Schweller, Great Ape Trust's newly elected board chair and a professor at Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, Iowa, said he's optimistic about the new partnership between Great Ape Trust and Bonobo Hope.
"It is an honor and a privilege to work with two such dedicated organizations. I feel confident that by working together we will raise the money we need to ensure our bonobo friends a brighter tomorrow."
For more information or to donate see www.bonobohope.org.
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.
