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Robert Shumaker
President & CEO of Indianapolis ZooDr. Robert W. Shumaker is an evolutionary biologist who specializes in the study of behavior
and cognition. He started his career at the Smithsonian National Zoo. During his 20-year tenure
there, Dr. Shumaker worked as an animal keeper, curator, biologist, exhibit designer, and
scientist. He spent several years at the Great Ape Trust in Des Moines, Iowa as the senior
scientist supervising all research with orangutans. In 2010 he moved to the Indianapolis Zoo
where he is now the President & CEO.
Dr. Shumaker has been a faculty member at George Mason University and Drake University, and
an affiliate faculty member at Iowa State University. He is an external research associate at the
Krasnow Institute and an adjunct professor at Indiana University.
Dr. Shumaker has authored or co-authored numerous scientific publications, books, and articles
for the popular press. His most recent book is Saving Endangered Species: Lessons in Wildlife
Conservation from Indianapolis Prize Winners. His work has been featured in National
Geographic, NPR, the Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, PBS, Time magazine, and the BBC.
Dr. Shumaker serves on the science advisory board of the Balikpapan Orangutan Society (BOS)
which is based in Indonesia, in the same capacity for BOS Canada in Toronto, and as a board
member of the Orangutan Conservancy, based in the United States. He is internationally
recognized as an expert on primate behavior and cognition and on animal tool behavior.