Des Moines, Iowa is the home of the Iowa Great Ape Trust. This is an amazing place with a fantastic 4-part mission:

• Provide sanctuary and an honorable life for great apes
• Study the intelligence of great apes
• Advance the conservation of great apes
• Provide unique educational experiences about great apes

The Iowa Great Ape Trust is currently the home of many wonderful bonobos like Panbanisha and Kanzi. And, you’ll never guess what they’ve been up to…painting. Yes! Using paintbrushes, sponges, their hands and even their tongues (ewwww!), these bonobos and their cousins, the orangutans, have been painting and creating magnificent works of art. The Great Ape Trust is auctioning the apes’ artwork to raise money for great ape conservation efforts in the countries where these endangered species live in the wild. One of the orangutans is partially paralyzed, so she paints pictures by holding her brush in her mouth!

William Fields, Director of Bonobo Research shared a hilarious story about the painting bonobos – just one more reason why we love these animals and want to do everything we can to save them. Here is the story about two bonobos, their paintings and their future careers as art critics:

“One time, Fields said, Kanzi and Panbanisha separately completed paintings.

Afterward, Fields took Panbanisha’s painting to Kanzi. What did Panbanisha paint?

Kanzi studied it. Strawberries, he answered correctly, pointing to the corresponding symbols on his lexigram board.

Then Fields took Kanzi’s work to Panbanisha. What did Kanzi paint?

Fields said Panbanisha turned the painting this way, then that, looking it over closely. Finally she picked out her answer on her lexigram board.

Paint, she indicated dismissively.” (Mary Chandler, DesMoinesRegister.com, 10/22/07)

Hey! I guess Panbanisha calls ‘em like she sees ‘em! But, while she may not be particularly impressed by Kanzi’s work, a lot of people were. The Iowa Great Ape Trust raised $10,000 to help the conservation of great apes and learned a lot about art and creativity by watching the processes of these great ape artistes! We applaud their efforts – apes and fundraisers alike.

Go here to vote for your favorite painting.

What’s a ‘lexigram board’??? Scientists use lexigram boards to communicate with apes. The board is a keyboard with symbols for representing words and phrases. The apes point to the symbols to ‘say’ what they want to the scientist.

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