Dinner with Dr. Graham L. Banes: 10 Years with Orangutans
Graham L Banes B.Sc. (Hons) M.Phil. Ph.D. (Cantab) FRGS studied Zoology at the University of British Columbia, Canada, before graduating with a B.Sc. (Hons) from the University of Aberdeen in Scotland. His orang-utan studies, now in their 12th year, formed the basis of his Master’s and doctoral theses at the University of Cambridge in England. As a field researcher, Dr Banes has been primarily based in Tanjung Puting National Park in Central Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo, where his research has identified among the world’s largest population of orang-utans, disentangled their social and sexual behaviour, and determined that historical reintroductions have led to hybridization in the wild between subspecies. His discoveries have been featured extensively in the international press, notably by The Washington Post, in Science magazine,and in the PBS documentary, Sex in the Wild: Orang-utans.
In addition to his fieldwork, Dr. Banes has worked extensively with zoos around the world. Learn how the orangutans at Albuquerque Zoo have helped to the unlock secrets of their wild conspecifics, and how Dr. Banes is helping to ensure that zoo orangutans are genetically healthy, happy, and sustainable in the long term.
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