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Great Ape Trust Awards $22,000 in Conservation Grants |
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DES MOINES, IOWA, Aug. 22 -/E-Wire/--
Great Ape Trust of Iowa announced today the Des Moines-based scientific research facility will provide $22,000 dollars for conservation efforts of orangutans in Indonesia and bonobos in Africa.
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Dr. Benjamin Beck, director of conservation for Great Ape Trust said $12,000 will help fund a study to determine the impact of illegal logging on orangutan behavior, ecology and survival at the Ketambe research site in northern Sumatra. $10,000 in grant money will be provided to Lola ya Bonobo, a sanctuary for orphaned bonobos near Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
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"Great Ape Trust of Iowa is committed to supporting efforts to conserve and study great apes in their home ranges. These are the first of our 2006 grants, and go to long-term partners whose work consistently exceeds goals and makes a real difference in the life of apes,� said Beck. “The Ketambe work will demonstrate how ape populations recover from logging, and the results will be relevant to all four types of great apes in Asia and Africa. Our grant to Lola ya Bonobo will help position the organization to undertake the first-ever reintroduction of orphaned bonobos back to the wild."
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Logging Study in Ketambe
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Orangutans are the only great ape found in Asia. It’s estimated 49,000 wild orangutans live in Borneo and only 7,300 in Sumatra. In addition to large-scale habitat conversion and hunting for the pet trade, the large body size of orangutans and long birth intervals make them extremely vulnerable to extinction.
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The study of orangutans at the Ketambe research site in Sumatra will allow scientists to determine the effect that illegal logging in the region has on the forest’s inhabitants and whether or not the logging ultimately threatens the long-term survivability of orangutans. The unique value of the Ketambe study is that it will occur in an area that has been thoroughly monitored with scientific data collected over the past 30 years. Principal investigator in the study will be Dr. Serge Wich, a visiting scientist at Great Ape Trust from Utrecht University in the Netherlands
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With its $12,000 grant, Great Ape Trust will be a primary provider in the first year of this important study that is hoped to span at least five years. Details of the proposed logging study in Sumatra are available at www.GreatApeTrust.org.
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Lola ya Bonobo
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Deforestation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the resulting trade in bushmeat has produced a number of bonobo “orphans�. Most of these are infants were taken from their mothers who were shot for food. Some have been poached for the pet trade, and subsequently confiscated or abandoned. Most of these animals are injured or ill when first seen, and even if they were healthy they would be unlikely to survive if returned to the forest without extensive support.
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Lola ya Bonobo is a bonobo sanctuary on the outskirts of Kinshasa, DRC’s capital. It is the only bonobo sanctuary and now has about 45 bonobo orphans. Claudine Andre, a dedicated and skilled expert, founded and manages Lola ya Bonobo (it means Bonobo Paradise in Lingala, the local language). Each bonobo gets a human “mother� who nurses it to health, provides emotional security and love, and helps to introduce the bonobos to each other to form social groups.
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The $10,000 provided to Lola ya Bonobo by Great Ape Trust of Iowa will be used to purchase computers, video and photography equipment. To learn more about Lola ya Bonobo, go to their Web site, http://bonoboducongo.free.fr
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Future Conservation Initiatives
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In June, a Great Ape Trust scientific delegation visited Uganda to review conservation projects supported by The Trust and examine opportunities for future collaborations with initiatives in Uganda. Conservation Director Beck expects to announce a Great Ape Trust supported initiative in Uganda by the end of 2006.
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2005 Conservation Funding
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The programs to which Great Ape Trust committed conservation assistance in 2005 included: The emergency relocation of adult orangutans displaced by conversion of forest to oil palm plantations in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia a sanctuary for orphaned bonobos in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) an environmental education program for golden lion tamarins in Brazil a survey of wild bonobos in the Maindombe Forest in the DRC support of bee-keeping associations for villages living in chimpanzee habitat at the edge of the Nyungwe Forest in Rwanda and construction of an orangutan field station in West Batang Toru Forest in Sumatra.
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In addition, Great Ape Trust has assisted great ape conservation efforts through the World Conservation Union (IUCN), chimpanzee conservation supported by the Jane Goodall Institute’s Roots and Shoots program and a conservation endowment fund sponsored by the American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA).
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Great Ape Trust Background
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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 in great apes. 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.
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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). To learn more about Great Ape Trust of Iowa, go to www.GreatApeTrust.org. Contact Info:
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Al Setka
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Director of Communications
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Great Ape Trust of Iowa
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Tel : 515.243.3580 ext. 19
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E-mail : asetka@greatapetrust.org Website : Great Ape Trust of Iowa
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