Primates - Us and the others

Monkeys fascinate us, they not only look like us on the outside, they are also intelligent and live in complex societies - and they are related to us, after all, they are primates just like humans. We took the 40th anniversary of the German Primate Center in 2017 as an opportunity to bring astonishing and enlightening but also saddening facts about our closest relatives to life in an exhibition. In various thematic areas, the exhibition provided insights into the diverse research work of DPZ scientists and conveyed interesting facts about our closest relatives. The thematic focus of the DPZ exhibition ranged from the social life and communication of various primates, their ecology and evolutionary development to their diversity and the global threat to numerous ape species.

A total of 46 exhibits, including dermoplastics of various apes, pictures, display boards, film installations and interactive exhibits, took visitors on a journey into the realm of primates from South America to Africa, Madagascar and Thailand. The exhibition was rounded off with several accompanying events such as guided tours, a series of lectures on various topics of primate research and a science slam at the end of the exhibition. A total of 1,291 guests visited the DPZ as part of the “Primates” exhibition; 71 percent rated the exhibition as very successful.

The exhibition “Primates” was realized with the kind support of the Zoological Museum and the Central Custody of the University of Göttingen, the Center for Anatomy of the University Medical Center Göttingen, the Natural History Museum Erfurt, the Max Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine as well as the IUCN Primate Specialist Group and Stephen Nash.