Please join us in welcoming Dr. Ken Gold as the Gorilla Foundation’s Managing Director of Gorilla Care and Research.
Dr. Ken Gold is a primatologist who has worked with primates in the zoo, conservation, laboratory and welfare community for more than 30 years. Ken has a Bachelors degree from UC Davis in Zoology, a Masters from San Francisco State University in Systematic and Behavioral Biology where he worked with Dr. Hal Markowitz, one of the modern founders of the field of environmental enrichment, and a Ph.D. in Psychology from Georgia Institute of Technology under Dr. Terry Maple, while working at Zoo Atlanta.
Ken has studied gorilla behavior for over 20 years, and has been active in gorilla conservation, welfare and management for over 30 years. His Masters thesis was on behavioral development of infant captive gorillas, and his Ph.D. thesis was on personality profiles in captive gorillas.
Ken has worked at various zoos as a behavioral researcher, designer, educator, conservationist and curator. He was the General Curator for Apenheul Primate Park in the Netherlands, the most innovative primate zoo in the world, where he managed the largest gorilla troop (20) in captivity.
He also served as General Curator at Singapore Zoo and Night Safari, two zoos with rich primate collections. In addition, Ken has taught Primate Behavior and Management courses at Loyola University in Chicago and Oxford Brookes University in Oxford, England.
Prior to coming to The Gorilla Foundation, Ken was a certified animal safety representative for the American Humane Association Film & TV Unit. He served as one of its highly trained field operatives responsible for the safety and welfare of animals in film and television. Ken worked with the film unit for 11 years, having worked on hundreds of films, commercials and television programs.
