Visitors line up to learn more about orangutans during the first of four member visitation days scheduled for 2009. Great Ape Trust photo.

Visitors report ‘unforgettable’ experiences during 2009 tours

Des Moines, Iowa – June 18, 2009 – Clara Jane Thompson, 9, didn’t want to scare the bonobos and orangutans when she visited Great Ape Trust on May 30, so she dressed completely in brown and asked her grandmother to pin her hair in two small buns to resemble ears.

The youngster was part of a throng of 300 members and guests who visited Great Ape Trust on May 30, the first of four Membership Days scheduled in 2009. Additional tours are scheduled for June 20, July 18 and Sept. 26, but are filling up quickly. To purchase a membership and book a tour, go here. All tours are from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Pat Goodwin, right, traveled to Des Moines from Louisiana for a chance to visit the bonobos and orangutans who call Great Ape Trust home. Pictured with her are Caisie Pitman, a research assistant, and Andy Antilla, a senior orangutan caretaker. Great Ape Trust photo.

Clara Jane has been talking about the experience ever since her visit. And so has her grandmother, Rita Fromm, who invited Clara Jane and three of her siblings, Emma, Henry and James, to Great Ape Trust in hopes they would discover that scientific inquiry can be fun. From formal presentations about orangutans and bonobos to interactive displays staffed by Great Ape Trust scientists and researchers to a half-dozen other campus venues, the experience didn’t disappoint, according to Fromm.

“They thought we would be stuck in a laboratory with lab coats and beakers all over the place, so it was great to show the grandkids that learning can be fun,” Fromm said. “It was really special to actually talk to the scientists and workers who interact with apes, and with the public. It was very clear that everyone affiliated with Great Ape Trust loves their job and has a true passion for the mission and the work being done.”

Clara Jane, who will be a fourth grader at Indianola’s Whittier Elementary School next fall, has been talking about someday working at Great Ape Trust since the world-class research facility opened in 2004 with the arrival of its first ape residents. She need not have worried that her presence would scare the apes – dressed in brown or not – because she and younger brother Henry were chosen by the bonobo Kanzi, the world’s undisputed ape-language superstar, to play a game of “chase.” As it has on other visitors who have been invited by Kanzi to play a game, the experience left an indelible impression on young Clara Jane.

Rita Fromm, left, said her grandchildren have gained a new appreciation for how fun and interesting science can be after visiting Great Ape Trust. Also pictured are Clara, Emma and Henry Thompson and Jim Fromm. Great Ape Trust photo.

“The orangutans and bonobos are very playful and cool and awesome about being around people,” she said. “I think it would be a cool job to have. It’s interesting to learn about apes and that kind of science.”

During their visit, Clara Jane, her grandparents and siblings spent time in the Great Ape Trust Learning Center, where they had the chance to talk to the world-class scientists conducting research at The Trust and overseeing global conservation effort to preserve endangered great apes and participate in interactive activities, such as a touchscreen used by the bonobos to communicate with humans. The lexigram panels contain 384 symbols and words, Clara Jane was able to quickly work through sample exercises and locate symbols for a statement bonobo caretakers might make: “Panbanisha, we will go to the A-frame and have hot dogs.”

Visitors also had an opportunity to perform some of the same tool-using tasks that Dr. Kristina Walkup designed for research trials measuring orangutans’ understanding of the causal relations between their actions and gaining a food reward.

Another Great Ape Trust member, Pat Goodwin, traveled to Iowa from Louisiana to fulfill a long-awaited dream. Goodwin has followed the evolution of Great Ape Trust on its award-winning Web site, www.GreatApeTrust.org, and has read books and other literature by Scientist with Special Standing Dr. Sue Savage-Rumbaugh, whose groundbreaking research with bonobos Kanzi and Panbanisha provides the foundation for Great Ape Trust’s scientific research trajectory.

“I have a 30-year history of being fascinated by our cousins, the great apes, but to see Dr. Savage-Rumbaugh interacting with Kanzi in person was almost overwhelming for me,” Goodwin said. “Being up close and personal was such a wonder for me. This was an unforgettable visit.”

Visitors brought scopes and binoculars to get a closer look at apes in their outdoor yards and an eagle nest, where an adult pair has given birth to a fledgling. Great Ape Trust photo.

The 2009 Membership Days tours also offered the public’s first chance to meet Katy, Rocky and Popi, three orangutans retired from the entertainment industry and now living at Great Ape Trust. Visitors may already know Rocky, 4, formerly one of the most visible orangutans in entertainment who has been photographed alongside recording artist Fergie of The Black Eyed Peas for Elle magazine and starred in television ads for Capital One and Aflac. Another of the entertainment orangutans, Popi, 37, was one of at least three orangutans appearing opposite actor Clint Eastwood in the 1980 hit Any Which Way You Can, and was the featured orangutan in Las Vegas nightclub performer Bobby Berosini’s Lido de Paris floor show at the Stardust Resort & Casino in the 1980s. Katy, 20, Rocky’s biological mother, also was involved in show business before her retirement.

Also new this year is the orangutans’ 3-acre forest yard, one of the largest such facilities for captive great apes in North America. The yard features dozens of climbable trees, giving visitors a glimpse of how the tree-dwelling orangutans travel through the forests in the wild.

In addition to time in the bonobo home, visitors also have the opportunity to watch bonobos in their outdoor play yard.

Great Ape Trust is continuing to accept memberships and book visits as long as space remains available. Membership levels include:

• College student: A $40 individual membership for undergraduate and graduate students. Valid academic institution e-mail address required. Includes one Great Ape Trust Membership Day Tour with one guest and the Great Ape Trust monthly e-newsletter.
• Senior: A $40 individual membership for anyone 65 years and older. Includes one Great Ape Trust Membership Day Tour with one guest and the Great Ape Trust monthly e-newsletter.
• General: A $50 general membership for adults 18 to 65. Includes one Great Ape Trust Membership Day Tour with one guest and the Great Ape Trust monthly e-newsletter.
• Household: A $100 family membership includes two adults and all children ages 18 and younger residing in the same household. Includes one Great Ape Trust Membership day Tour for the household and the Great Ape Trust monthly e-newsletter.

Memberships support not only the Great Ape Trust public visitation program, but also the scientific and conservation efforts of The Trust.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

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 capabilities.

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).