Sue Savage-Rumbaugh, Ph.D.: Lead Scientist, Great Ape Trust of Iowa. She received her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Psychology from The University of Oklahoma. Her M.S. studies involved cognition and language in humans and chimpanzees, and her Ph.D. work involved captive studies of mother-infant groups of chimpanzees. She began studying bonobos in 1975, during her post-doctoral work at Georgia State University. From 1976 - 1992, she was associated with the Yerkes Primate Research Center. In 1983, she began an association with Georgia State University's Language Research Center that continued until her recent move to the Great Ape Trust of Iowa. For the last 30 years, she has been studying cognition and use of symbols in chimpanzees, bonobos, and humans. She is the first and only scientist doing language research with bonobos, and her work with Kanzi, the first ape to learn language in the same manner as children, was selected by the "Millennium Project" as one of the top 100 most influential works in cognitive science in the 20th century by the University of Minnesota Center for Cognitive Sciences in 1999.

David Seelig, B.S.: currently a VMD/Ph.D. student at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine and Department of Neuroscience. He has worked as a primate ethologist and behaviorist for the past 10 years at facilities including White Sands Research Center, Yale Medical School, Harvard University, Georgia State University, Yerkes Primate Center, and most recently the Carribean Primate Center/Cayo Santiago, focusing on social behavior and pair-housing of macaque species. He is also the administrator of the Primate Enrichment Forum, a discussion list dedicated to laboratory primate environmental enhancement, maintained by the Wisconsin Primate Center's Primate Info Net.

Gail Laule, M.A.: Director of Animal Behavior, Active Environments, Inc., an animal behavior consulting firm specializing in assisting facilities in developing behavior management programs to enhance the care and welfare of their animals. She has worked with animals in both zoo and research settings and offers training and enrichment workshops for both elephants and primates. She is an Executive Board Member for the American Zoo and Aquarium Association's Behavior, Husbandry Advisory Group; an advisor for the American Association of Zoo Keepers Training Committee and the Moorpark College Exotic Animal Training and Management Program; and an Advisory Board Member for Chimp Haven and Wildworks. She is also a popular speaker at both zoo and research industry meetings, including meetings of the Association of Primate Veterinarians, the American Society of Primatologists, and the International Society of Primatologists.

Steve Schapiro, PH.D.: Associate Professor of Comparative Medicine, and Chief, Section of Behavioral Care and Enrichment, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Michael E. Keeling Center for Comparative Medicine and Research, Department of Veterinary Sciences. He received his Ph.D. in Comparative Psychology in 1985 from UC, Davis, and went on to do postdoctoral studies at the Caribbean Primate Research Center in Puerto Rico. He joined the Cancer Center in 1989. He is currently the President of the American Society of Primatologists, and the Treasurer and Vice President for Membership of the International Primatological Society.

Kate Baker, Ph.D.: Environmental Enrichment and Behavioral Research Coordinator, Tulane National Primate Research Center. She has also held similar positions at two other large primate facilities over the years since receiving her Ph.D. in Anthropology in 1992.

Linda Brent, Ph.D.: President and Director of the Chimp Haven primate sanctuary. She began work with the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research (SFBR) in 1987 after receiving her BS in Zoology, and continued to work for them while earning her MS in Psychology and, in 1995, her Ph.D. in Anthropology. In 2002, she became the President of Chimp Haven, but she also continues in her association with SFBR.

Terry Maple, Ph.D.: President/CEO of the Palm Beach Zoo. He received his Master's and Ph.D. from, and performed Post-doctoral studies at, the University of California at Davis. In 1975, he joined the faculty of Emory University, and in 1978, he became a Professor of Psychology at the Georgia Institute of Technology (currently on leave), while retaining a research affiliation with Emory's Yerkes National Primate Research Center. He is also the Director of the Georgia Tech Center for Conservation and Behavior, and from 1984 - 2003, he was the head of Zoo Atlanta. He became head of the Palm Beach Zoo in 2005, and he was recently appointed Research Professor in the Department of Biology at Florida Atlantic University. He is internationally recognized as an expert on great ape behavior and has served the American Zoo and Aquarium Association as President and also as a member of the Great Ape Taxon Advisory Group, the Gorilla Species Survival Plan (SSP) group, and the Orangutan SSP group. He is a former President of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International and has served on its board for fifteen years. In addition, he is an elected Fellow of the American Psychological Association, the Association of Psychological Science, and the Georgia Academy of Sciences.

Elizabeth Lonsdorf, Ph.D.: Director, Lester E. Fisher Center for the Study and Conservation of Apes, Lincoln Park Zoo. As an undergraduate, she studied aye-aye foraging skills at Duke University's Primate Center. Her graduate work at the University of Minnesota, under the Jane Goodall Institute's Center for Primate Studies, focused on foraging skills in young chimpanzees and included studies of the wild chimpanzees at Gombe National Park in Tanzania. She received her Ph.D. for this work in 2003. Currently, she directs the zoo's research and conservation initiatives on apes, continuing to study tool-use in chimpanzees in the wild and at the zoo and also conducting research on ecosystem health issues in the chimpanzees of Gombe. She is an advisor to the American Zoo and Aquarium Association's Chimpanzee Species Survival Plan and a member of their Field Conservation Committee. She also serves on the IUCN Primate Specialist Group's Section on Great Apes and on the Conservation Committee of the Animal Behavior Society.