Shown here are Kanzi and Panbanisha, two bonobos at the Great Ape Trust of Iowa. Highly skilled at using a communication system consisting of symbols, they are conversing using a language keyboard. Investigation into their ability to learn language has advanced the knowledge about ape intelligence worldwide. Past research by pioneers, Dr. Duane M. Rumbaugh and Dr. Sue Savage-Rumbaugh, has benefited children with developmental disabilities who use similar computer-based keyboards to aid them in communication of spoken English.

The Great Ape Trust of Iowa is a vision of Des Moines businessman Ted Townsend. The Trust is a world-class research center in southeast Des Moines on 230 acres of native Iowa riverine forest, wetlands, and lakes. All four types of great ape—bonobo, orangutans, chimpanzees and gorillas—will be comparatively studied at The Trust. The founder, Mr. Townsend, is deeply committed to the survival of the great apes and to understanding them better through research, conservation, and education. He believes that we must respect Mother Nature and listen when she speaks. Great Apes are expected to vanish from the wild within this century–some possibly within a decade.