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| From left, Liz Garst, Connie Wimer, Roxanne Conlin and Loree Miles. |
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Des Moines, Iowa – August 29, 2007 – The question of what it means to be human is one that Liz Garst of Coon Rapids expects to ponder for some time to come.
Garst was one of four Iowa businesswomen who earned a behind-the-scenes tour of Great Ape Trust of Iowa by supporting the world-class scientific research center’s 2nd Annual Bowlathon for Great Apes, a July event that raised more than $20,000 for conservation of great apes in the wild.
A highlight of the tour for Garst was interaction with Panbanisha, a linguistically competent female bonobo involved in The Trust's leading-edge scientific research on the origins and future of culture, language, tool use and intelligence. The women interacted with Panbanisha first through the glass-faced observation room, where Panbanisha arranged fresh flowers from Garst’s garden, and later as the ape prepared tea in the kitchen of the bonobo living quarters.
“Watching Panbanisha making tea in her kitchen was the most fascinating part of the visit,” Garst said. “Not only did she use tools – tea strainers and so forth – but she also took time to play with the soap bubbles in the sink and offer her visitors play sips of tea through the window. Her actions, her imaginations and her empathy were so child-like, so human-like.
“So why are we humans different? I will be thinking on that question for a long time to come.”
Garst’s family was successful in the seed corn and banking industries and is donating thousands of acres of land in west central Iowa to the non-profit group, Whiterock Conservancy, formed to preserve it. She was joined on the tour by:
- Connie Wimer of Des Moines, a Great Ape Trust board member, president and founder of a niche publishing company whose successful titles include the Des Moines Business Record and dsm magazine, and a 2007 inductee into the Iowa Women’s Hall of Fame;
- Loree Miles of West Des Moines, formerly the national marketing director of RSM McGladrey Inc., one of the nation’s top business, accounting and tax consulting firms, who recently began a second career after buying franchise rights to build 10 Value Place motels; and
- Roxanne Conlin of Des Moines, a nationally prominent trial attorney, a pioneer for women’s rights locally and nationally, and the first woman in Iowa to run for governor on a major party ticket.
Like Garst, Conlin also was impressed by the apes’ human-like qualities. “It was a mind-blowing experience,” Conlin said. “It makes you re-examine what it means to be human.
“Having met and interacted with the bonobos and orangutans, it is impossible to cling to the notion that only humans can think, reason and feel.”
Miles said she was immediately impressed by possibilities for collaborations with universities such as Iowa State University, which recently signed a memorandum of agreement with The Trust to create the world’s pre-eminent collaboration for primate studies, and the impact of having such a facility in Iowa.
“When I learned that I would have the opportunity to visit Great Ape Trust, I started boasting to my friends and family,” she said. “But nothing could have prepared me for the extraordinary experience of what I saw.
“Imagine this: Apes using a computer to communicate; understanding that you don’t get to play until you do your work; watching someone arrange a vase of flowers, then taking a try at it; using a gas stove to boil water and make tea, then offering to share it,” Miles continued. “It is now days later and I’m still thinking about the possibilities of the remarkable mind-development research going on right here in Des Moines.”
Garst also said she was “most impressed” by the energy Great Ape Trust founder and chairman Ted Townsend has devoted to the creation of a world-class scientific research center. “His knowledge about apes and what they can teach us was inspiring,” she said. “I love a guy who puts his money, and his time, where his heart is.”
Great Ape Trust Background
Great Ape Trust of Iowa is a scientific research facility in southeast Des Moines dedicated to understanding the origins and future of culture, language, tools and intelligence. When completed, Great Ape Trust will be the largest great ape facility in North America and one of the first worldwide to include all four types of great ape – bonobos, chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans – for noninvasive interdisciplinary studies of their cognitive and communicative capabilities.
Great Ape Trust is dedicated to providing sanctuary and an honorable life for great apes, studying the intelligence of great apes, advancing conservation of great apes and providing unique educational experiences about great apes. Great Ape Trust of Iowa is a 501(c) 3 not-for-profit organization and is certified by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). |
Great Ape Trust is certified by the Association of Zoos & Aquariums
