Orangutans inspire research project

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Tags: animals, discovery, international collaborations, psychology, SBS, summer-2011

UQ's Dr Emma Collier-Baker has travelled to Indonesia to better understand the comparative psychology of orangutans and children

A UQ researcher will spend part of the next three years working in Indonesia to better understand the comparative psychology of orangutans and children.

Dr Emma Collier-Baker from the School of Psychology arrived in Jakarta in September to commence a joint venture between UQ and Universitas Indonesia.

Dr Collier-Baker is a comparative psychologist who has been investigating the mental capacities of children, great apes and other species for the past 10 years.

She has experience conducting behavioural research with captive primates in various institutions in Australia and around the world, and last year returned from five months of field work funded by an Endeavour Research Fellowship observing wild orangutans in the rainforests of Sumatra.

Her goal in Indonesia is to develop a primate cognition and child development laboratory, conducting non-invasive behavioural research with orangutans and other primates, and with children in a pre-school centre at the university campus.

Dr Collier-Baker said a major aim of the project was to see Indonesian students and staff become involved in the growing study of comparative cognition.

“They are ideally placed to do so in a country which is home to many primate species, including Asia’s only great ape,” she said.

“I hope with more Indonesian researchers involved we will not only see new contributions to knowledge but to conservation, by raising the profile of endangered species like the orangutan.”

By Kristen Bastian

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