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Seven Bonobos Meet the clever, caring apes that call DSM home, led by matriach Elikya.
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BY LILY DETAEYE
es Moines is known for a few things: the Traveler’s Insurance sign, Slipknot and, I suppose, the Iowa state government. But in zoologist circles globally, Des Moines is famously the home of the only facility dedicated to the research and conservation of bonobos. Ape Initiative is an Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) accredited nonprofit organization located in southeast Des Moines that currently houses seven bonobos, cared for by a small but mighty staff of researchers. Amanda Epping is one of them. “As research coordinator, I just kind of liaison between our collaborators, our director, our staff and all our partners,” Epping explained. “I’m the middle man. Or, woman, I guess.” After getting her Masters in Anthropology from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, Epping maintained an interest in primates, specifically because of the multi-female groups many species live in. Bonobos are the closest living relatives to humans, alongside chimpanzees. There are quite a few similarities between chimps and bonobos, including their complex communicative abilities, Central African habitat, and preference for living in troops. But bonobos are smaller in stature, matriarchal, have a reputation for sexual promiscuity—even using sex to bond and solve conflicts—and endangered, with as few as 15,000 remaining in the wild. Being able to work closely with bonobos while also studying them made sense for Epping, so she started working with Ape Initiative in 2017. Before the facility was called the Ape Initiative, it operated under many names—most notably, the facility was Great Ape Trust (GAT), an organization founded by Des Moines businessman Ted Townsend and spearheaded by primatologist Sue Savage-Rumbaugh. While Townsend’s goal for the facility was to offer STEM opportunities to students living in rural Iowa communities, GAT was the focus of consistent media coverage for other reasons. Some of these reasons included mistreatment allegations, the death of a beloved and relatively young bonobo, and lack of funds. In 2013, 10 years after the building was constructed, the facility was in dire financial straits and Townsend removed himself from the operation. 20 November 2022 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LVDSM8
Breaking up bonobo family groups can be detrimental to their health, so to ensure the bonobos wouldn’t be separated during the financial hiccup, Dr. Jared Taglialatela and Dr. Bill Hopkins founded Ape Initiative. Through Ape Initiative, the bonobos remained in the same building, but were put under the care of a new team of researchers committed to resurrecting the research program and providing the apes with a long-term home. “It was really important to our co-founders to keep the five bonobos together, to keep Kanzi
Clara and Kanzi, caught in a potentially lustful embrace. Courtesy of Ape Initiative
42-year-old lexigram master Kanzi, 12-year-old Clara, 15-year-old Mali, and 24-year-old matriarch Elikya. The majority of the group has lived together most of their lives and experienced the move from a facility in Georgia to Iowa together when Savage-Rumbaugh and Townsend initially started GAT. They are siblings, parents, aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews to each other. Because of this, and because of the strong family ties bonobos keep throughout their lives, Ape Initiative’s focus “THEY HAVE DIFFERENT TASTES, on keeping them together has proven to be beneficial for their DIFFERENT LIKES AND DISLIKES. TECO well-being, which in turn helps AND NYOTA LIKE TO WATCH MOVIES; with the facility’s research. THE OTHERS DON’T REALLY CARE. MALI “If you’re gonna be housing animals, you should be doing the LOVES TO GROOM WITH THE OTHER best you can by them,” Epping BONOBOS.” —AMANDA EPPING said. “And I think there’s been a huge change in research to look and his family as one unit, and to keep a real- at that. What can we provide them with? How ly large focus on research and educational out- can we make their days as good as possible?” At Ape Initiative, making a bonobo’s day as reach,” research associate Sara Skiba said. “And good as possible involves a lot of choice. Rather we’ve been quite successful in that. And so that’s than forcing a bonobo to participate in a study something we’re very proud of.” or training session, bonobos are given the opporToday, Ape Initiative is home to seven tunity to participate. They let researchers know bonobos: 22-year-old Maisha, 12-year-old and sole Iowa native Teco, 24-year-old Nyota, what they want either by using a lexigram, a
