Great Ape Trust's internationally recognized bonobo research program has garnered more global media attention. The scientific research effort directed by Dr. Sue Savage-Rumbaugh and William Fields has been featured by 60 Minutes Australia in a special report, Talk to the Animals.
Correspondent LIz Hayes and Producer Phil Goyen visited Great Ape Trust in Des Moines in early 2011. Their report chronicles three decades of scientific study by Savage-Rumbaugh and features the bonobos Kanzi, his 16-month son Teco and Panbanisha, an adult female bonobo at The Trust.
In the months ahead, the science and bonobos at Great Ape Trust will be documented by BBC Television, Discovery Channel, Vanity Fair magazine and Iowa Public Television.
In the past year, the bonobo research effort has been featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show, CNN's Anderson Cooper 360, TIME magazine, Charlie Rose program on PBS, National Public Radio, USA Today and The Des Moines Register.
Dr. Savage-Rumbaugh was recognized in 2011 as one of TIME magazine's Most Influential People In the World.
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.
