Ape Mind Initiative | AMI

The Ape Mind Initiative (AMI) is a program funded by the National Science Foundation and directed by Prof. Francys Subiaul of The George Washington University. The programwill (a) establish two post-doctoral positions for the purposes of furthering comparative cognitive research and educating the public about primate cognition, (b) offer students the opportunity to be interns at the National Zoo while participating in research and (c) present a yearly public lecture led by a renowned great ape scientist once a year in addition to daily research presentations at the National Zoo’s Think Tank by a research scientist (Post-Doc or PI).

The AMI program will lead to rare educational opportunities for students from High School to Post-Doctoral. And, because a large portion of the proposed research will be conducted at the National Zoo’s Think Tank—a world-renowned center dedicated to studying the diversity of animal minds—this project will have a significant impact on the greater DC area and the Nation as a whole.

Think Tank & Great Ape House

The National Zoo’s Think Tank is a unique zoological exhibit not of a particular species but of a biological process: the mind. This exhibit aims to educate the public on the continuities and discontinuities between human and non-human mind. The exhibit focuses on three themes: language, tools and society. The Think Tank & Great Ape House together have a number of primate species including Sulawesi macaques, orangutans and gorillas. In Think Tank's orangutan enclosure, for example, visitors can watch the behaviors of the orangutans, who climb and swing over from the Great Ape House on the "O Line" (a series of towers and cables). Inside Think Tank, the orangutans demonstrate their problem-solving abilities using touch-screen technology.

Visitors can view scientific studies in progress by watching the Zoo's behavioral researchers. In one of the studies, the orangutans use computers to learn novel serial and abstract spatial rules from either another ape or a human experimenter. These studies seek to better understand the building blocks of cultural learning: imitation. To facilitate public understand, Think Tank staff will perform daily demonstrations and lead discussions on the research in progress.In addition to these public demonstrations the Think Tank will sponsor a yearly ‘master’ lecture open to the public and led by a prominent primate researcher.

For more information about the specific studies that will be conducted in the Great Ape House and the Think Tank please see: Primate Research.