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I want to help great apes
SO YOU WANT TO HELP GREAT APES?
There are four species of great apes: chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans and bonobos.
Sadly, the great apes are endangered; some experts think they may be extinct in the wild in 10 or 15 years.
There are several reasons why great apes are in danger:
- They are losing their habitat, because logging companies cut down the trees to make money and sometimes because local people clear the land for farming, firewood, and for building.
- Deforestation and roads created by loggers and miners means chimpanzees and other great apes are forced to live in smaller and small areas and separated into small populations. This causes populations to start inbreeding - that's when individuals who are closely related to each other mate and have babies. When that happens, the groups become weak and start getting different diseases.
- The great apes are being hunted for meat. Sometimes the people kill the animals to get the protein they need; but in other cases they kill wild animals because they prefer taste of wild animal meat to the meat of farm animals like goats and chickens. Meat from wild animals is called bushmeat.
- Great apes are also threatened by diseases like Ebola.
How can we make a difference for great apes?
- Throughout the world there are restaurants serving bushmeat and the flesh of "exotic" animals. If you live in a place where this is the case, you can take a stand against the illegal bushmeat trade. Refuse to eat bushmeat and refuse to go to restaurants that serve it. You can sign a promise at the website of the Bushmeat Crisis Task Force.
- Raise awareness. Many people don't know that our closest cousins are under the threat of extinction. If you're a student, consider doing an awareness campaign with an information booth at your school. Write letters to the editor talking about the great apes. In your letter encourage people to support politicians who care about the environment.
- Support the Great Ape Survival Project (GRASP)
- Send an email or letter to your member of Congress in support of the Endangered Species Act.
- Volunteer with a national or local conservation organization.
- Learn about how what you and your family buys can help the environment. You can ask your parents not to buy products that use great apes in advertising.
- Support the Chimp Collaboratory's campaign to end the use of great apes in entertainment. Visit their website to learn more about them.
- Start your own Roots & Shoots group and help great apes! Learn more about Roots & Shoots by clicking here
Further reading: Read about Jane Goodall's Four Reasons for Hope.
I want to work with animals
"I get a lot of letters from kids - any age from about five years old and up - telling me they want to work with animals when they grow up. Some of them want to know how they can prepare themselves. Let's suppose that you are one of them. There are many things you do - things that will teach you to observe carefully and begin to understand more and more about the true nature of nonhuman animals. You can watch animals and see what they do. You can write notes about what you see. And you can ask those why, how, and what for questions ... Some answers you will find by watching. Some you can find only by looking them up in a book or asking acknowledgeable teacher. Whatever you do, don't do anything that hurts or frightens the animal you are interested in....
Do you have a dog? Suppose he wants to go outside. How does he ask? Does he bark or whine at the door while looking at you? That's easy to understand. But dogs can ask in other ways. Perhaps he or she comes up to you (or another member of your family) and lays his head on your knee. Or he looks at you, gives a tiny whine, and wags his tail. Or he starts to pant, getting louder and louder. Or he becomes restless and walks about a lot. If he gives up in despair because none of the dumb humans seem to understand or care, he may lie down. But then, when you do get up, he will probably become very excited and start bounding about.
... Dr. Dolittle's parrot, Polynesia, tells us that in order to learn animal language we must have "powers of observation." We must be able to notice "small things about birds and animals? The way they walk and move their heads and flip their wings, the way they sniff the air and twitch their whiskers and wiggle their tails."
Of course, you don't have to become an ethologist to study or work with animals. There are lots of other "ologists" to choose from! You could become a zoologist, a biologist, an anthropologist or an ecologist. And there are even more. You can look up what they all mean in a dictionary. Or perhaps you want to become a veterinarian, work in a kennel, or work with horses.
Just remember - if you are really and truly determined to work with animals you will find a way to do it. But you have to want it desperately, work hard, and take advantage of an opportunity - and never give up."
This excerpt is from Jane's book My Life with the Chimpanzees, pp. 108-113.
