Des Moines Register
08-27-07
Ape Trust, ISU to work together
By PERRY BEEMAN
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
Great Ape Trust of Iowa and Iowa State University plan this afternoon to release
details of an agreement to cooperate in primate studies.
The Des Moines-based ape research and conservation center said in a
statement that the 2:30 p.m. announcement will involve “an agreement to
establish the world’s pre-eminent collaboration for primate studies.”
The press conference will be streamed live at www.GreatApeTrust.org
<http://www.greatapetrust.org/>
ISU President Gregory Geoffroy and ape trust founder Ted Townsend will join
scientists from the Des Moines research center and ISU at the event, which also
will feature appearances by bonobos and orangutans.
The ape trust, located in southeastern Des Moines in the Easter Lake area,
conducts social, cognitive and communication research on seven bonobos and
three orangutans.
Plans call for the addition of more orangutans, and, eventually, gorillas and
chimpanzees, which would make the facility the only one of its type with all four
species of great apes.
Some of the apes communicate with researchers through the use of computer
screens and symbol boards that link abstract symbols to certain words. They also
are involved in tool use, including a vending machine. Kanzi, a bonobo, jammed
with musicians Peter Gabriel and Paul McCartney before moving to the Des
Moines center.
Iowa State University’s primate research has included the work of Jill
Pruetz, associate professor of anthropology, whose work in the western
Africa nation of Senegal brought one of most important scientific studies of the
year.
The work was detailed in the March 6 edition of Current Biology and immediately
drew international media reports. Pruetz discovered that chimpanzees habitually
use tools to hunt, and that females are more involved in the hunting than
previously believed.
Pruetz and colleague Paco Bertolani were the first scientists to document
chimpanzees habitually hunting in this way. The scientists recorded 10 different
chimpanzees in 20 instances of hunting without human assistance, in the
savannah area where Pruetz has researched the apes since 2000. They saw the
chimps make spears out of tree limbs between March 2005 and July 2006.
Great Ape Trust earlier announced joint efforts with Drake University, where
orangutan researcher Robert Shumaker has taught and a number of trust
scientists have given lectures, and the Des Moines public schools, which is
offering a pilot program, Great Ape Academy, middle-schoolers this fall. The
program, financed by the trust, will include visits to the research center.
The ape trust has bankrolled conservation projects around the world. The United
Nations and others predict great apes will disappear with in 50 years without
massive work to end poaching and habitat destruction.
In addition to Geoffroy and Townsend, today’s announcement will feature Pruetz,
the ISU researcher, along with Elizabeth Hoffman, ISU executive vice
president and provost; ape trust bonobo research director William Fields, and
Robert Shumaker, director of the trust’s orangutan research.
The trust, located at 4200 S.E. 44th Ave., is open for limited public tours. Longterm plans call for visitor center that would allow more regular visits. For more
information, go to www.GreatApeTrust.org <http://www.greatapetrust.org/> or call
(515) 243-3580