Burlington resident Dr. Jackie Prime doesn’t do things by halves. After finishing her PhD in anthropology, she started a non-profit called Prime Earth, with the intention of teaching youth about the connections between people, other animals, and the earth. The goal she set out for herself: to empower others to aid in her grand aim of conserving rainforests, thus preserving endangered species’ habitats, and helping people become more compassionate, confident, and considerate global community members.
She got her start right here in Burlington, where she grew up with a keen interest in animals and nature from a young age. Her parents, Irene and Raymond, perhaps provided models for her career: Irene is a retired teacher and guidance counsellor and Raymond was a long-time director of the Centre of Forensic Science with a PhD in analytical chemistry — Dr. Prime senior.
Jackie graduated from M.M. Robinson High School and went on to McMaster University, where she became interested in monkeys and apes. From there, she went to Southern Illinois University for her MA and PhD, studying how southeast Asia’s white-handed gibbons use their hands. To study these fascinating primates in the wild, Jackie lived for two years in Khao Yai National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Thailand.
Jackie remembers living in the jungle and observing gibbons as a rewarding and challenging time, requiring ingenuity, humility, courage, and personal strength. She learned to speak Thai, bonded with the local rural community where she worked and lived, and still maintains many of those bonds now more than 10 years later, considering them some of her greatest friends.
Jackie moved back home to Burlington as one of the few dedicated gibbon specialists in the world, a newly-minted primatologist with a PhD, with a new appreciation of the basic value of life and the knowledge that everything is connected and all of earth’s creatures are worthy of respect and consideration. With over a decade of teaching and research experience, she wanted to continue sharing her hard-won experience and knowledge with others: Prime Earth is the result of that.
With her team at Prime Earth, Jackie is working on a number of projects, which include rainforest restoration tree-planting projects in southeast Asia; supporting and partnering with local sanctuaries rehabilitating rescued gibbons from illegal wildlife trafficking; educating and empowering youth on current conservation issues; and a professional development program for students and recent graduates with anthropology degrees. A youth empowerment program called Power Seekers is currently in the works, which will incorporate skill-development and confidence-building challenges to engage youth in social transformation; see a YourTV Halton interview with Jackie and colleague Kale Black on Power Seekers here.
In addition to all of that, Jackie has written three books for children. The main character? Gibby the Gibbon. Gibby’s Great Adventure is aimed at 5- to 9-year-olds, and leads kids through the Thai jungle with Gibby, meeting other local animals on her journey back home. Go, Gibby, Go and Gibby and Jeppa at Home in the Jungle are look-and-learn picture books aimed at kids under 5 years old. The books weave her scientific expertise into fun rhythms and rhymes for kids, and every character in the book is based on a real-life animal in the wild.
Prime Earth pivoted somewhat during the pandemic, as did many other organizations: Jackie turned her keynote speaker series into virtual school visits for middle- and high-school classrooms, inspiring students with her jungle adventures and teaching them about those all-important connections between humans, other animals, and the environment. A particular highlight was going back (via Zoom, at least) to her alma mater to speak to current M.M. Robinson students this past year.
This week, in partnership with World Rainforest Day, Jackie is going on Instagram Live for a Q&A about her time in the jungle and all things gibbon on Wednesday, June 22 at 6 p.m. EST. You can join in and ask questions live via Prime Earth’s Gibbon Guardians Instagram page, @gibbonguardians, or you can watch via Facebook if you follow Prime Earth (@PrimeEarthOrg).
To learn more about Prime Earth, visit www.prime-earth.org. Read more about the various programs offered, contribute to their conservation efforts by buying an annual Gibbon Guardian membership, or learn about other ways you can help Prime Earth to create a more compassionate world.
Editor’s note: editor of local-news.ca and writer of this article, Jennifer Arnold, is also a current volunteer for Prime Earth. She highly recommends checking out the Prime Earth website and supporting this excellent local organization with an international focus.
