GREAT APE TRUST SANCTUARY

Bonobo Kanzi, the most famous one in the world, is highlighted in an article published by Time Magazine August 6 edition, which CNN and PBS channel are already promoting.

Journalist Jeffrey Kluger, author of the article, visited Kanzi at the sanctuary in Iowa, where it is studied linguistic and communication abilities of the great primates. Time magazine mentions the story of Kanzi in an article called “Inside the Minds of Animals” and points that the method used in Iowa is unique and very similar to the one that human mothers use with their children. When they do not understand language yet, they talk to them and explain what happens day by day.

Kluger writes on the article: “Kanzi is by no means the first ape to have been taught language. But the Trust takes a novel approach, raising apes from birth with spoken and symbolic language as a constant feature of their days. Just as human mothers take babies on walks and chatter to them about what they see even though the child does yet not understand, so too do the scientists at the Trust narrate the lives of their bonobos. With such total immersion, the apes are learning to communicate better, faster and with greater complexity.”

Read the full article: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2008759,00.html

Watch videos about the article:

CNN – http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/living/2010/08/05/am.kluger.animals.think.cnn

Interview with Jeffrey Kluger, author of the article: http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/11157

Dr. Pedro A. Ynterian
President, GAP Project International