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The Great Ape Heart Project is a collaborative
effort among AZA Zoos-- so that’s the Association

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of Zoos and Aquariums-- AZA Zoos in North
America looking at ape heart disease.

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And ape heart disease is a significant factor
of morbidity and mortality in the great apes

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in captivity.

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We’ve been very fortunate that this is the
kind of project where everyone wants to be

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involved and donates or volunteers their time
in some shape or form from MD cardiologists

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and sonographers, down to the keepers at institutions.

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And I think to reiterate what Haley was saying
is that we’ve actually had the problem that

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we realized that if so many people are invested
in this, and we actually have such a large

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percentage of institutions that are all working
together that, in terms of the collections

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perspective, we’re essentially assisting
almost every ape in North America.

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What started out at Zoo Atlanta as kind of
a little seed project has now turned into

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this international project that has garnered
a lot of press, I think, because the animals

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we study are very charismatic.

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And people relate to apes.

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And people relate to heart disease because
it’s a lead killer of humans.

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And so, I think it’s just skyrocketed into
this really large project that Zoo Atlanta

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has really taken under their wing and made
it their kind of showpiece project, also,

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which has lent a lot of credibility to the
project.

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So, we had got a government funding to start.

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And then it’s turned into this larger entity--
it’s own entity almost, at this point.

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I’m a primatologist by training.

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I study behavior of animals.

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And I think like most other people in the
zoo community, I chose this career path because

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I wanted to work with animals and not people.

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And now, it’s funny that now I spend most
of my day on a computer emails with human

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primates.

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And I think that’s actually historically
been an issue for people at zoos, that this

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inter-institutional communication and collaboration.

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And I think that our project has really broken
through barriers.

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And that’s where we really succeed as a
model for other institutions to try to address

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a problem across multiple disciplines.
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