Great Ape Trust of Iowa Sanctuary has made a deal for cooperation and fund raising with Drake University, to develop together non-invasive studies with great primates.
Great Ape Trust of Iowaωs mission is to understand the origin and the future of the culture, language, tools and intelligence of the great primates. To achieve this goal, the sanctuary is developing an Excellence Center. The project intends to have individuals of each one of the four species of the great primates – gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos and orangutans – and today there is already a small group of orangutans and bonobos.
The objective of Drake University is to exchange professionals and knowledge with Great Ape Trust of Iowa through its Arts and Science School, aiming to build more knowledge about the Great Primates, mainly in the cognition, behaviour and culture areas. People from the University are going to do observation work at the Sanctuary, and people from the Sanctuary will give classes and present conferences to students at the University.