By Angela Nitzke
May 22, 2008

Kathy saunters over to a burlap sack covering some mulch and plops down for a little nap.

She seems not to care about the people watching her every move or not to be worried by projections that 92 percent of the chimpanzee range will be threatened by human development.

Kathy is a chimpanzee living at the Lincoln Park Zoo, where scientists have recently begun reaching out to give visitors the chance to see apes through the eyes of a scientist.

Unlike Kathy, zoo researchers are keenly aware of the threats to wild great ape populations and have dual missions in exploring the behavior of great apes and spreading the urgent message on conservation.

“Animal behavior helps us understand more about ourselves as humans. We all have to survive and are constantly evolving.” said Mark Foster, scientist and education program coordinator at the zoo’s Lester E. Fisher Center for the Study and Conservation of Apes.

Habitat loss, hunting and disease are all threats to wild chimps with an estimated population of about 173,000 to 300,000, according to the United Nations Environmental Program. As recently as 50 years ago, millions of chimpanzees were running wild in Africa

“The first step in conserving the world’s ape populations in the wild is to recognize and understand the complexities of these threats. Mitigating the risks takes a deeper understanding of ape behavior,” according to published research by Elizabeth Lonsdorf, director of the Fisher Center.

Researchers there monitor Kathy and the other chimpanzees living in captivity to better understand their intelligence and how their environment influences behavior. The zoo gives visitors the opportunity to try their hand at evaluating the behavior of the resident chimpanzees. Visitors are given a lesson on ape behavior and then use a hand-held device to record what the animal is doing for a set period of time.

The visitor observations aren’t included in official data records. But the mountain of data collected by researchers is used to design better housing for captive apes and to give the animals a stimulating environment. When Kathy gets tired of her burlap nest she sometimes goes “fishing” for ketchup.

The termite fishing mound is a part of the ape cognition research project at the Fisher center. In the wild, chimpanzees have been observed using sticks as tools to get termites out of nests they build underground, in trees or in soil mounds. At the zoo, the human made termite mound has little holes that are occasionally filled with ketchup or mustard instead of termites. Researchers observe how the apes get to the tasty treats.

Lincoln Park is one of the largest zoo-based conservation and research programs, said Foster. Protecting the wild populations of all great apes is one of the primary concerns of researchers, not just the chimpanzees and gorillas that can be seen at Lincoln Park, but bonobos and orangutans as well.

In 20 years, there is a good chance that orangutans won’t exist in the wild, said Foster.

Sumatran orangutans are the most endangered and their population is estimated to be about 7,300. Closely related are the Borneo orangutans that tend to differ slightly in appearance and behavior and are estimated to number around 57,000, according to the United Nations Environmental Program. Both are considered endangered and face a high risk of extinction in the wild.

“The choices we make have huge impacts on great apes,” said Foster. For instance, the choices we make about fats in our foods impact the survival of great apes in the wild. Enter the trans fat debate.

Due to proposed bans on trans fat, many food manufacturers are looking for alternatives to partially hydrogenated vegetable oil.

Research indicates that consumption of trans fat raises low-density lipoprotein (LDL), or “bad cholesterol,” levels, which increases the risk of coronary heart disease. Artificial trans fats form as vegetable oil hardens, a process called hydrogenation.

U.S companies use about 2.5 billion pounds of partially hydrogenated oil annually, mostly for foods such as cookies, cakes and margarine. But if they replaced the trans fat in foods needing a solid fat with palm oil, U.S. palm oil imports would triple over the 2003 level.

That could require 1,240 square miles of new oil palm plantations—an area that represents rainforest habitat for roughly 2,500 orangutans and other animals such as rhinos, elephants and tigers, according to a report by the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

To learn more about the exploring ape behavior program at the Lincoln Park Zoo and for more information about the threats to great ape populations, visit http://www.lpzoo.org. The program hours are 11 a.m.–12:15 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday. Tickets are $5.

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Angela Nitzke

Kathy saunters over to a burlap sack covering some mulch and plops down for a little nap.

She seems not to care about the people watching her every move or not to be worried by projections that 92 percent of the chimpanzee range will be threatened by human development.

Kathy is a chimpanzee living at the Lincoln Park Zoo, where scientists have recently begun reaching out to give visitors the chance to see apes through the eyes of a scientist.

Unlike Kathy, zoo researchers are keenly aware of the threats to wild great ape populations and have dual missions in exploring the behavior of great apes and spreading the urgent message on conservation.

“Animal behavior helps us understand more about ourselves as humans. We all have to survive and are constantly evolving.” said Mark Foster, scientist and education program coordinator at the zoo’s Lester E. Fisher Center for the Study and Conservation of Apes.

Habitat loss, hunting and disease are all threats to wild chimps with an estimated population of about 173,000 to 300,000, according to the United Nations Environmental Program. As recently as 50 years ago, millions of chimpanzees were running wild in Africa

“The first step in conserving the world’s ape populations in the wild is to recognize and understand the complexities of these threats. Mitigating the risks takes a deeper understanding of ape behavior,” according to published research by Elizabeth Lonsdorf, director of the Fisher Center.

Researchers there monitor Kathy and the other chimpanzees living in captivity to better understand their intelligence and how their environment influences behavior. The zoo gives visitors the opportunity to try their hand at evaluating the behavior of the resident chimpanzees. Visitors are given a lesson on ape behavior and then use a hand-held device to record what the animal is doing for a set period of time.

The visitor observations aren’t included in official data records. But the mountain of data collected by researchers is used to design better housing for captive apes and to give the animals a stimulating environment. When Kathy gets tired of her burlap nest she sometimes goes “fishing” for ketchup.

The termite fishing mound is a part of the ape cognition research project at the Fisher center. In the wild, chimpanzees have been observed using sticks as tools to get termites out of nests they build underground, in trees or in soil mounds. At the zoo, the human made termite mound has little holes that are occasionally filled with ketchup or mustard instead of termites. Researchers observe how the apes get to the tasty treats.

Lincoln Park is one of the largest zoo-based conservation and research programs, said Foster. Protecting the wild populations of all great apes is one of the primary concerns of researchers, not just the chimpanzees and gorillas that can be seen at Lincoln Park, but bonobos and orangutans as well.

In 20 years, there is a good chance that orangutans won’t exist in the wild, said Foster.

Sumatran orangutans are the most endangered and their population is estimated to be about 7,300. Closely related are the Borneo orangutans that tend to differ slightly in appearance and behavior and are estimated to number around 57,000, according to the United Nations Environmental Program. Both are considered endangered and face a high risk of extinction in the wild.

“The choices we make have huge impacts on great apes,” said Foster. For instance, the choices we make about fats in our foods impact the survival of great apes in the wild. Enter the trans fat debate.

Due to proposed bans on trans fat, many food manufacturers are looking for alternatives to partially hydrogenated vegetable oil.

Research indicates that consumption of trans fat raises low-density lipoprotein (LDL), or “bad cholesterol,” levels, which increases the risk of coronary heart disease. Artificial trans fats form as vegetable oil hardens, a process called hydrogenation.

U.S companies use about 2.5 billion pounds of partially hydrogenated oil annually, mostly for foods such as cookies, cakes and margarine. But if they replaced the trans fat in foods needing a solid fat with palm oil, U.S. palm oil imports would triple over the 2003 level.

That could require 1,240 square miles of new oil palm plantations—an area that represents rainforest habitat for roughly 2,500 orangutans and other animals such as rhinos, elephants and tigers, according to a report by the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

To learn more about the exploring ape behavior program at the Lincoln Park Zoo and for more information about the threats to great ape populations, visit http://www.lpzoo.org. The program hours are 11 a.m.–12:15 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday. Tickets are $5.

Source: http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=90275

This entry was posted on Friday, May 23rd, 2008 at 9:57 am and is filed under Science, Take action!, Zoos & Sanctuaries. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.