A Closer Look at Becoming Jane

Dr. Craig Stanford - Professor of Biological Sciences and Anthropology, USC
Dr. Craig Stanford is Professor of Biological Sciences and Anthropology at the University of Southern California. He is best known for his research and books on chimpanzee hunting and meat-eating in Gombe National Park, Tanzania, done in collaboration with Dr. Jane Goodall. He has conducted field research on primates and other animals for more than 30 years in Africa, Asia and Latin America and is the author of 17 scientific and popular books and more than 150 scholarly articles on animal behavior and human evolution. His recent book The New Chimpanzee: A 21st Century Portrait of Our Closest Kin is a compendium of what we currently know about our closest kin.

Candace Sclimenti - Curator of Mammals, L.A. Zoo
With over 20 years of experience at the Los Angeles Zoo, Candace Sclimenti is the Curator of Mammals, specifically overseeing the primates, carnivores, marine mammals, and Australian species at the Zoo.  Her time at the LA Zoo has always included working with great apes.  Her experience with captive (LA Zoo, Centre International de Recherches Medicales de Franceville, Gabon; Limbe Wildlife Center, Cameroon) and semi-captive (Chimfunshi Wildlife Sanctuary, Zambia; Ape Action Africa, Cameroon) apes has provided her with a hands-on working knowledge of primate behavior, management of large social groups, and the forces affecting their status in the wild.  Her work in Africa studying orphaned chimpanzees, as a result of the bush-meat and pet trades, was the basis for her M.A. in primatology thesis.

Currently, Candace serves on the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) Chimpanzee Species Survival Plan steering committee, the AZA Chimpanzee SAFE steering committee, and is the Program Leader for the AZA Giant Otter Species Survival Plan.   She has worked with the Jane Goodall Institute for nearly 20 years and is a founding member of the Jane Goodall Institute Los Angeles Base Camp. In addition to her role as Curator at the Los Angeles Zoo, she continues as a primatology adviser to facilities both in the U.S. and in Africa, including her most recent consulting work with the Limbe Wildlife Centre and Ape Action Africa both in Cameroon.

Patt Morrison - Moderator

Patt Morrison is a Los Angeles writer and newspaper columnist who has a share of two Pulitzer Prizes. She has won six Emmys and eleven Golden Mike awards for her work hosting public television and radio programs. She also hosted the nationally syndicated television program “The Book Show with Patt Morrison,” and her seminal nonfiction book “Rio LA, Tales from the Los Angeles River” was a best-seller. Her writing appears in both fiction and nonfiction anthologies. And Pink’s, the legendary Hollywood hot dog stand, named its vegetarian hot dog “The Patt Morrison Baja Veggie Dog” in her honor.