Science: How ‘Koko the Talking Gorilla’ can show us the importance of looking at scientific realities versus pseudoscientific myths This talk focuses on how pseudoscience (talking apes, aliens, Bigfoot, etc.) distracts us away from how the world actually works. Reality, as it turns out, is far more fascinating than anything we can make up.

Do Chimpanzees Have a Language? Chimpanzees have calls that they learn, pass down from generation to generation, and incorporate with syntax. Do these features qualify chimp calls as a language? What is the link between chimp calls and human language?

How Captive Animal Studies Can Lead to Conservation in the Wild Zoos can be at the forefront of animal conservation. By researching the way animals breed, eat, and interact in the wild, we can find better strategies for conservation. Halloran draws from his own zoo research for stories and examples.

Exploring the Chimpanzee Mind Chimpanzees are amazingly intelligent and complex. They have been taught to perform math, pick out oppositions, and communicate symbolically. However, there are differences between chimpanzee cognition and human cognition. What are these differences? How does this help us define who we are as a species? What do these differences tell us about human and chimpanzee evolution?

Building and Maintaining a Nonprofit Rainforest Conservancy In 2008, Andrew Halloran and another primatologist formed a partnership with a landowner in Nicaragua to maintain and operate a tropical forest as a non-profit conservancy. Today, this conservancy protects forests in Central America and Africa. In this talk, Halloran looks at the successes and failures of this very recent conservation initiative.

Primate Communication and Conservation How can understanding how primates interact with each other aide in their conservation? Halloran looks at primate communication systems and how, in the past, knowing about them has led to new strategies in conservation and census techniques.