 Des Moines, Iowa – May 30, 2007 – “What a treasure we have here,” Lisa Speiser of West Des Moines said after visiting the bonobos and orangutans at Great Ape Trust of Iowa as a participant in the twice-weekly public tours that began May 15 and will continue through August.
Speiser knew enough about great apes to respect their intelligence and human-like qualities, but had an “aha!” moment as the world-famous Kanzi demonstrated his language proficiency by breezing through match-to-sample exercises as a star human pupil would the alphabet. Using a computerized lexigram to synthesize language, Kanzi responded with 100 percent accuracy to the verbal cues offered by caretaker Susannah Maisel, quickly finding symbols for the words she called out.
Earlier, Azy, Knobi and Allie, the resident orangutans at The Trust, all made appearances as caretaker Peter Clay explained lead scientist Dr. Rob Shumaker’s work exploring the abilities of orangutans to express their thoughts through a symbol-based language represented on a large computer monitor and other aspects of the orangutans life at The Trust.
The tours, available with a paid membership to The Trust, also include an overview of programming at the world-class scientific research center in southeast Des Moines presented by Katie Klag, the organization’s education coordinator for the 2007 visitation program. She told visitors about the rapidly declining numbers of each of the four types of great ape – orangutans, bonobos, chimpanzees and gorillas – in the wild due to habitat destruction and the bushmeat trade.
| Great Ape Trust opened its doors May 19 for 425 of its friends and neighbors at the fifth neighborhood event the scientific research center has hosted since it was announced to the public in April 2002. |
 In particular, the orangutan, Asia’s only great ape, could be gone within five to 10 years without intervention. There are currently only about 7,300 orangutans in Sumatra and between 45,000 and 50,000 in Bornea, the only places they are found, but the habitat orangutans depend upon for survival is being logged or burned to make room for palm oil plantations.
Some estimates, such as one by the World Wildlife Fund, puts the number of remaining bonobos, arguably man’s closest living relative and found in the wild only in the Democratic Republic of Congo, as low as 10,000. Along with other great apes, bonobos have been targeted by hunters for meat for their own consumption and for the commercial bushmeat trade.
Great Ape Trust supports global conservation efforts and last year provided $86,656 in direct funding to nearly a dozen primate conservation groups supporting initiatives for bonobos, chimpanzees and gorillas in Africa, orangutans in Asia and golden lion tamarins in South America.
Ann Meng of South Carolina, who received a Great Ape Trust membership as a gift from her niece, Kelly Bittner of Des Moines, said the information was at the same time electrifying and sobering.
“We just can’t lose this connection,” Meng said.
And, she added, “You are so lucky to have this in Iowa.”
Bittner said she was impressed by the concept of voluntary research, a hallmark of The Trust’s programming, and by the fact that orangutans and bonobos can choose not to participate without facing negative consequences, such as the withholding of food.
There are still openings for the public visitation program, designed by Great Ape Trust scientists to work in concert with their ongoing research into ape intelligence, language, tool use and culture on the 230-acre campus in southeast Des Moines. The visits will continue through fall, but September and October have been set aside for free educational tours for public school students.
Great Ape Trust Background:
Great Ape Trust of Iowa is a scientific research facility in southeast Des Moines dedicated to understanding the origins and future of culture, language, tools and intelligence. When completed, Great Ape Trust will be the largest great ape facility in North America and one of the first worldwide to include all four types of great ape – bonobos, chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans – for noninvasive interdisciplinary studies of their cognitive and communicative abilities.
Great Ape Trust is dedicated to providing sanctuary and an honorable life for great apes, studying the intelligence of great apes, advancing conservation of great apes and providing unique educational experiences about great apes. Great Ape Trust of Iowa is a 501(c) 3 not-for-profit organization and is certified by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). To learn more about Great Ape Trust of Iowa, go to www.GreatApeTrust.org. |
Great Ape Trust is certified by the Association of Zoos & Aquariums
