Chicago Zoological Society

Orangutan Conference Proceedings

Click the links below to go to PDF or PowerPoint files of conference presentations for each day:

Tuesday Proceedings
Wednesday Proceedings
Thursday Proceedings

 

Orangutan Expert Advice

On Oct. 16-18, 2007, orangutan caregivers and managers, researchers, and field biologists gathered at the Chicago Zoological Society’s Brookfield Zoo in the first nationwide effort to address the rapidly diminishing orangutan population, and to discuss the impact that human behavior is having on the species.

Participants heard from internationally-recognized orangutan experts, and exchanged the most current information on husbandry, conservation, and emergent issues pertaining to orangutans. The conference also marked the first time that the Orangutan Conservancy, a major international conservation organization, partnered with zoological institutions to save an animal population.

Though the SSP Husbandry Workshop focused on the care and management of the orangutan in zoos, the conference also helped form a landmark alliance among field biologists, sanctuary workers, zoo personnel and conservationists who share a commitment to orangutan conservation.

Internationally renowned orangutan researcher Serge Wich, Ph.D., served as keynote speaker for the three-day symposium. Wich, a visiting scientist on staff at the Great Ape Trust of Iowa and an adjunct assistant professor at Drake University in Iowa, has been the Research Program Manager for the Ketambe Research Station in Sumatra, Indonesia since 1997 and is a member of the IUCN/SSC Great Ape Group. He has published numerous papers on the wild orangutan on topics such as orangutan conservation challenges and strategies, ecology, behavior and development.