Great ape research center celebrates fifth anniversary with eye to the future
Des Moines, Iowa – April 27, 2007 – Five years ago this month, the world first heard about a great ape research center proposed for Des Moines, Iowa. Today, Great Ape Trust of Iowa stands as a world-class scientific research facility committed to the study of ape culture, language, tools and intelligence. Founded by Des Moines businessman Ted Townsend and built on the site of a former sand quarry, Great Ape Trust is now home to orangutans and bonobos, and leading research into their cognitive abilities.
 “Great Ape Trust is a research institution dedicated to learning how experiential forces interact to alter brain structure, awareness, communication and cognition,” said Townsend. “These insights through collaborations with apes have the potential to redefine what it means to be human, and to re-establish our respect for the rest of nature.”
Great Ape Trust was announced to the public in April 2002. Site preparation and construction began on the 230-acre campus in summer 2003. In the fall of 2004, the first ape residents arrived, two orangutans from Smithsonian National Zoological Park in Washington, DC. The following spring, a colony of bonobos arrived from the Language Research Center at Georgia State University in Atlanta.
In time, research with chimpanzees and gorillas will be conducted at Great Ape Trust, making it one of the few places in the world to do cognitive studies with all four types of great ape.
 “Great Ape Trust is being recognized as an important resource for education and research by students and faculty within the state of Iowa and beyond,” said Townsend. “As we move forward, Great Ape Trust scientists, in league with other internationally-recognized researchers, will partner with academic institutions in Iowa and across the U.S. to create the world’s preeminent collaboration for primate studies.”
In fall of 2006, Great Ape Trust committed $1.5 million to education efforts in Iowa and throughout the world. The Trust has developed academic relationships with Iowa State University, University of Iowa, Drake University, Des Moines University, Simpson College, Central College, Grinnell College, Buena Vista University, Stone Age Institute in Indiana, Krasnow Institute at George Mason University, Universitas Nasional in Jakarta, Indonesia and Great Ape Research Institute in Okayama, Japan.
In addition to education and scientific research, Great Ape Trust has, as a part of its mission, a commitment to ape conservation throughout the world. To date, The Trust has supported 18 conservation initiatives on four continents.
“Orangutans, bonobos, chimpanzees and gorillas are thinking, self-aware, intelligent beings,” said Townsend. “Great Ape Trust is dedicated to saving them, knowing them, learning from them and advocating for them.”
To review a timeline of Great Ape Trust, go to www.GreatApeTrust.org.
Great Ape Trust Background
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 American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA). |
Great Ape Trust is certified by the Association of Zoos & Aquariums
