Things have warmed up a little bit lately in Iowa, but temperatures are still well below what you’d expect to find in a jungle setting. That makes it a problem for administrators of the Great Ape Trust in Des Moines to create an winter environment for the bonobo and orangutan apes that call it home.
Trust spokesman Al Setka says they’ve done just that. He says they have a nice greenhouse for the bonobos and he says the orangutans have a lot of things to do in their building so they stay nice and cozy.
Setka says the apes do get a look at winter in Iowa. Setka says some of the staff members were out playing in the snow and the bonobos were watching them from the greenhouse. Setka says he doesn’t know if the apes are ready to go out in the snow, but they will get them out in the spring. Setka says they are continually thinking about how to expand the grounds at the trust to help the apes.
He says travel and movement is important to apes as that’s what they do in the wild. He says they hope to get the bonobos into cordoned off areas this spring. The Great Ape Trust is in its second year in Iowa.