Endangered Lemurs Focus of Conservation Prize
May 15, 2014---Primatologist
Patricia Wright, who studies the endangered lemurs of Madagascar, has
won the largest prize in the field of animal conservation: the
Indianapolis Prize. Wright, a National Geographic grantee, hopes the
award will shed a light on Madagascar and its lemurs. She has spent
decades researching lemurs and working closely with the local people to
protect the animals. As the first woman to receive the $250,000 prize, she
also hopes to inspire the next generation of conservationists.
Transcript
NG NEWS – “Endangered Lemur Focus of Conservation Prize”
May 15, 2014
PATRICIA WRIGHT, PRIMATOLOGIST & 2014 INDIANAPOLIS PRIZE
WINNER:
In New York is where I met my first monkey. It was in a pet store. My husband and I were going to see a Jimmy
Hendrix concert and strayed and went across to see this beautiful monkey. But nobody knew about it at all. It was called an owl monkey. And that started me on my adventure on being
a primatologist. I had no idea at that
time that’s where it was heading. But my
life really changed.
The first time I saw a lemur in the wild it was just
amazing! They’re such extraordinary
creatures. And there it was, way up in
the trees. Beautiful animal! And there are so many different kinds. And I love them all.
It’s extremely important to protect lemurs because they are
our earliest ancestors . And we have so
much to learn from them. Um, so far we’ve
found out that of the little mouse lemurs actually get Alzheimer’s—plaques and
tangles in their brains. And we’re
looking at how that knowledge can help us to understand that Alzheimer’s
better.
From the very beginning of my project to establish a
protected area for a new species of primate that I had discovered, I realized
that we had to incorporate the villagers around it. Now, I’m not a person that was trained at all
in how to make a national park. So, I
think one of the early ways that we bonded was that we were working that out
together—the villagers and I. You know,
how do we establish a national park but also how do we actually make the people
around the park value that and receive economic gain from the park. And so this relationship that started in
1986 is now going on today where I’m still visiting the same villages. Their economy has improved, especially
because of Ecotourism.
MICHAEL CROWTHER, PRESIDENT, INDIANAPOLIS ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
The work that Pat’s done, particularly her in national park work,
can be replicated all over the world with thousands of different species. She is a first-class scientist but she’s also
a first-class strategist and a first-class administrator. And when you put all that together it’s
pretty unbeatable.
WRIGHT: I was so excited to hear that I was the first woman
to be honored with this Indianapolis Prize.
And I’m hoping that by being the first woman, I can inspire many young
women that they can go into Science, they can do very well.
MIREYA MAYOR, PRIMATOLOGIST AND NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
EXPLORER:
The fact that she’s the first female winner, I think, is
fantastic and is really a testament to her strength and determination in what could
otherwise be perceived as a very male-dominated field. What I saw from Pat is it didn’t matter what
the gender was. If you were a good
leader and if you knew what you were doing and if you were kind to the local people,
you were going to accomplish things.
WRIGHT: You know, there are 103 species of lemurs and 91% of
them are endangered or threatened or critically endangered. They really need help. They’re on the forefront of
Conservation. And so I’m hoping that the
Indianapolis Prize will bring that spotlight to Madagascar.
