![]() ![]() Visitors to the zoo have the opportunity not only to observe the great apes in their outdoor and indoor enclosures but also to take a look at the research studies that are being carried out. The research facility is thus the world's largest great ape complex. Pongoland's animal enclosure covers 24,705 square meters of external space, while the buildings cover 3,255 square meters. Comparisons between the different species, including humans, should provide clues to the evolutionary origins of the unique human cognitive, social-cognitive and symbolic processes of cultural learning and production. ![]() Scientists at the Wolfgang Köhler Primate Research Center (Pongoland), which the Max Planck Society operates in collaboration with Leipzig Zoo, study behaviour and cognition in four species of great ape: chimpanzee ( Pan troglodytes), gorilla ( Gorilla gorilla), orangutan ( Pongo pygmaeus) and bonobo ( Pan paniscus). The studies on wild monkey populations are conducted in the Taï National Park on the Ivory Coast and in the Loango National Park in Southern Gabon (chimpanzees), in the Salonga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo (bonobos/pygmy chimpanzees), in Uganda and Rwanda (mountain gorillas) and in the Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo and Nigeria (western gorilla). In most cases, the animals are simply observed and exposed to only low levels of stress so that their natural behaviour is not disturbed. Years of study have revealed how environmental factors influence the evolution of tool use, meat consumption, social structure and culture. Among the issues that they study is the question of culture and cognition among chimpanzees. ![]() collecting urine samples to determine hormone status) as well as behavioural data. The researchers adopt a multidisciplinary approach to their studies in the wild, which involves both environmental and physiological data (e.g. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig study both species of large great ape – gorillas and chimpanzees – in the wild and in the zoo. ![]()
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