Visit Vanessa Woods' Blog
Watch Brian Hare and Vanessa Woods Participate in the World Science Festival 2010 by clicking on the link below:
2012
Educational Outreach
May 4th: (Ben Finkel and Joseph Feldblum) Forest View Elementary School (2nd grade) talk on chimpanzee and bonobo behavior.
April 27th: (Ben Finkel and Joseph Feldblum) East Chapel Hill High School talk, "Bonobos: evolution, altruism, and behavior."
April 21st: (Korrina Duffy, Ben Finkel, and Emma Blumstein) Alumni Science Festival at Duke University. Presented cognition games, similar to those presented to apes, to Duke alumni and their children to see whether they could outsmart the apes.
April 18th: (Ben Finkel and Karen McCall) Carolina Friends School enrichment program presentation on "Why be nice? The evolution of altruism and the biology of Quakerism."
March 21st: (Korrina Duffy and Emily Bray) Pathways Health Careers Enrichment Program sponsored by the Duke AHEC Program. Presentation of dog cognition research at Duke University, Durham, NC.
March 15th: (Ben Finkel and Emily Burke). Wiley Elementary School Science Evening, Raleigh, NC. Presented interactive games to groups of children such as "can you tell the difference between a bonobo and a chimpanzee?"
February 21st: (Kara Schroepfer and Korrina Duffy) Skype with Minnetonka High School Biology Club, raising funds for Friends of Bonobos.
2011
Education Outreach
March 10th: (Karen McCall and Korrina Duffy) Wiley Elementary School Science Evening, Raleigh, NC. Presented problem solving games to elementary school children and their parents that we do with bonobos and chimpanzees.
March 11th: (Aaron Sandel, Karen McCall, and Korrina Duffy) Carolina Friends Middle School Science Day, Durham, NC. Presented differences in chimpanzee and bonobo behavior and how we might expand our idea of our own human nature by studying bonobo cooperation and empathy through interactive games and discussion.
March 30th: (Kara Schroepfer and Ben Finkel) National Honor Society Lecture Series, Cary Academy. Introduced bonobos to Cary Academy as a model for cooperation and empathy in solving world problems like hunger.
2010
Outreach Lectures & Conferences
April 14-16th, proposed and organized the first Primate Palooza that included public lectures on primates at Duke, the Durham Museum of Life and Sciences, and the North Carolina Museum of Natural History.
May 10th, gave two guest lecturers in the East Chapel Hill High School Honors Biology classes.
May 27th, gave public lecture on dog psychology to the Orange County Animal Shelter in Chapel Hill.
April 13th, gave public lecture at Periodic Table: Durham Science Café organized by Durham Museum of Life and Science on “Why dogs love us”.
June 1st – 5th, participated public presentation at World Science Festival session in New York: All Creatures Great and Smart.
August 21st, gave public Keynote address (pro bono) for first graduate of guide dogs from Ears, Nose and Paws in Carrboro.
August 24th, gave public “distinguished lecture” at NSF headquarters in Arlington, Washington D.C.
October 23rd – 24th, organized booth for US Science and Engineering Festival in Washington D.C.: Are you as smart as an ape?
October 20-23rd, gave public lecture at Pop Tech 2010 conference in Camden, Maine: Thinking Wrong: are humans the smartest species?
November 6th (7-10 p.m.): Chapel Hill, N.C. Fund raiser for Friends of Bonobos, gave public lecture on bonobo behavior and conservation.
Education Outreach
September 2010, Received NSF funding to develop bonobo conservation curriculum and working with Durham Museum of Life & Science to create and implement in local schools.
Created website www.chimpsarenotpets.com to educate the public as to why chimpanzees are not appropriate pets
Conservation & Welfare Outreach
April 18th 2010, Hosted Friends of Bonobos Board Meeting to plan this year’s conservation activity.
Summer 2010, Coordinated and funded translation of IPS guidelines into Chinese to promote welfare standards in China.
Fall 2010, Applied through Duke Plus Global Health Program to receive surplus medical equipment for communities in Basankusu who are helping protect the released group of bonobos we are studying.
November 20th 2010, Obtained agreement from DHL to waive shipping fees of surplus medical supplies to Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo.
2008-2009
Outreach Lectures & Conferences
November 4th 2009, gave public lecture at retirement home on comparisons between human and nonhuman psychology.
Summer 2009, gave several public lectures on bonobo psychology at Lola ya Bonobo sanctuary, Kinshasa for Congolese school children.
Education Outreach
Published several articles on cognitive evolution, conservation education and ape welfare aimed at highschool students and the general public.
Andre, C., Kamate, C., Mabonzo, P., Morel, D., Hare, B. 2008. The conservation value of Lola ya Bonobo Sanctuary. Furuichi, T., Thompson, J. (Eds) The Bonobos: behavior, ecology and conservation. Springer, New York. 303-322.
Woods, V. & Hare, B. 2009. Out of our minds: how did Homo sapiens come down from the trees, and why did no one follow? In: Whats Next?: Dispatches from the future of science. In: Innovative Science (Brockman, M. Ed). Vintage Books. p. 170-184.
Woods, V. & Hare, B. in press. Think outside the lab: African sanctuaries as a new resource for non-invasive research on great apes. Encyclopedia of Applied Animal Behavior and Welfare. Ed. D. Mills. CABI publishing.
Conservation & Welfare Outreach
Fall 2009, Group members (Catherine Workman & Aaron Sandel) applied to Duke Athletic department for surplus / used soccer equipment for shipment to Basankusu. Equipment was obtained, shipped and used to support the regional soccer team “the Basankusu Bonobos” in largest remaining Bonobo habitat in preparation for Bonobo release in neighboring forest.
The Evolutionary Anthropology Department hosted the first annual "primate palooza" in 2010 in which public events at Duke and local museums were organized. Primate palooza is venue in which we can share our enthusiasm for primates with each other and the public!
