Bonobo[1]
Conservation status
Endangered (IUCN 3.1)[2]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Primates Family: Hominidae Genus: Pan Species: P. The conservation status of a Species is an indicator of the likelihood of that species remaining extant either in the present day or the near future An endangered species is a population of an organism which is at risk of becoming Extinct because it is either few in numbers or threatened by changing environmental or predation The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data List) created in 1963 is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global Chordates ( Phylum Chordata) are a group of Animals that includes the Vertebrates together with several closely related Invertebrates Mammals ( class Mammalia) are a class of Vertebrate Animals characterized by the presence of Sweat glands, including sweat glands A primate is a member of the biological order Primates ( Latin: "prime first rank" the group that contains Lemurs the Aye-aye Chimpanzee (often shortened to chimp) is the common name for the two extant Species of Apes in the Genus Pan. paniscus
Binomial name
Pan paniscus Schwarz, 1929
Bonobo distribution

The Bonobo (IPA: /bəˈnoʊboʊ/, Pan paniscus), until recently usually called the Pygmy Chimpanzee (and less often the Dwarf or Gracile Chimpanzee),^[3] is one of the two species making up the chimpanzee genus, Pan. Ernst Schwarz (1889-1962 was a German Zoologist. Schwarz was born in Frankfurt and studied zoology in Munich. In Biology, a species is one of the basic units of Biological classification and a Taxonomic rank. Chimpanzee (often shortened to chimp) is the common name for the two extant Species of Apes in the Genus Pan. A genus (plural genera from Γένος Latin genus "descent family type gender" is a low-level Taxonomic Chimpanzee (often shortened to chimp) is the common name for the two extant Species of Apes in the Genus Pan. The other species in genus Pan is Pan troglodytes, or the Common Chimpanzee. The Common Chimpanzee ( Pan troglodytes) also known as the Robust Chimpanzee, is a great ape. Although the name "chimpanzee" is sometimes used to refer to both species together, it is usually understood as referring to the Common Chimpanzee. The Bonobo is endangered, and is found in the wild only in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (République démocratique du Congo often referred to as DR Congo, DRC or RDC, and formerly known or referred to Along with the Common Chimpanzee, the Bonobo is the closest relative to Humans.

German anatomist Ernst Schwarz is credited with having discovered the Bonobo in 1928, based on his analysis of a skull in the Tervuren museum in Belgium that had been thought to have belonged to a juvenile chimpanzee. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. Ernst Schwarz (1889-1962 was a German Zoologist. Schwarz was born in Frankfurt and studied zoology in Munich. Tervuren is a Municipality in the province of Flemish Brabant, in Flanders, one of the three regions of Belgium. The Kingdom of Belgium is a Country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters as well as those Schwarz published his findings in 1929. In 1933, American anatomist Harold Coolidge offered a more detailed description of the Bonobo, and elevated it to species status. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The species is distinguished by relatively long legs, parted hair on their head, a matriarchal culture, and the prominent role of sexual activity in its society. Matriarchy is a term which is applied to gynocentric form of Society, in which the leading role is by the Female and especially by the Mothers Animal sexual behaviour takes many different forms even within the same Species.

This primate is mainly frugivorous, but supplements its diet with leaves and sometimes small vertebrates (such as flying squirrels and infant duikers^[4]) and invertebrates. A primate is a member of the biological order Primates ( Latin: "prime first rank" the group that contains Lemurs the Aye-aye A frugivore is an Animal that feeds primarily or in some cases exclusively on Fruit. The flying squirrels, scientifically known as Pteromyini or Petauristini, are a tribe of Squirrels ( family Sciuridae) A duiker (ˈdaɪkɚ is any of about 19 small to medium-sized Antelope Species from the subfamily Cephalophinae native to Sub-Saharan Africa ^[5]

Contents 1 Name 1.1 Common name 1.2 Taxonomy 2 Physical characteristics 3 Psychological characteristics 3.1 Sexual social behavior 3.2 Other social behavior 3.3 Closeness to humanity 4 Habitat 5 Conservation efforts 6 See also 7 References 8 Further reading 8.1 Books 8.2 Articles 9 External links

Name

Common name

The name Bonobo first appeared in 1954, when Edward Tratz and Heinz Heck proposed it as a new and separate generic term for pygmy chimpanzees. The term has been variously reported as being a word for "chimpanzee" or "ancestor" in a Bantu language. Another suggestion is that the name is a misspelling of the name of the town of Bolobo on the Congo River, which has been associated with the collection of chimps in the 1920s. The Congo River (for a time known as the Zaire River) is the largest River in Western Central Africa. ^[6]

Taxonomy

The scientific name for the Bonobo is Pan paniscus. Initial genetic studies have characterised their DNA as more than 98% identical to that of Homo sapiens. Deoxyribonucleic acid ( DNA) is a Nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known ^[7] More recent studies have shown that chimps are more closely related to humans than to gorillas. Gorillas, the largest of the living Primates are ground-dwelling Herbivores that inhabit the Forests of Africa. ^[8] The most recent genetic analyses of chimpanzee and human genetic similarity come from whole genome comparisons and have shown that the differences between the two are more complex both in extent and character than the historical 98% figure suggests. In classical genetics the genome of a Diploid Organism including Eukarya refers to a full set of chromosomes or genes in a Gamete, thereby In the seminal Nature paper reporting on initial genome comparisons, researchers identified thirty-five million single-nucleotide changes, five million insertion/deletion events, and a number of chromosomal rearrangements which constituted the genetic differences between chimps and humans, covering ~5% of both genomes. Nature is a prominent Scientific journal, first published on 4 November 1869 A single nucleotide polymorphism ( SNP, pronounced snip) is a DNA sequence variation occurring when a single Nucleotide - A, T In Genetics, a chromosome translocation is a Chromosome abnormality caused by rearrangement of parts between nonhomologous Chromosomes. ^[9] While many of these analyses have been performed on the Common Chimpanzee rather than the Bonobo, the differences between the two chimpanzee species are unlikely to be substantial enough to affect the Pan-Homo comparative data significantly.

But there is still controversy. Scientists such as Morris Goodman^[10] of Wayne State University in Detroit argue that the Bonobo and Common Chimpanzee are so closely related to humans, their genus name should also be classified with the Human genus Homo: Homo paniscus, Homo sylvestris, or Homo arboreus. A genus (plural genera from Γένος Latin genus "descent family type gender" is a low-level Taxonomic An alternative philosophy suggests that the term Homo sapiens is actually the misnomer, and that humanity should be reclassified as Pan sapiens. A misnomer is a term which suggests an interpretation that is known to be untrue In either case, a name change of the genus is problematic because it complicates the taxonomy of other species closely related to humans, including Australopithecus. Taxonomy is the practice and science of classification The word comes from the Greek, taxis (meaning 'order' 'arrangement' and, nomos The Genus Australopithecus ( Latin australis "of the south" Greek πίθηκος pithekos "ape"

Recent DNA evidence suggests the Bonobo and Common Chimpanzee species effectively separated from each other less than one million years ago. ^[11][12] The chimpanzee line split from the last common ancestor with the Human approximately four to six million years ago. Human evolution, or anthropogenesis, is the part of biological Evolution concerning the emergence of Homo sapiens as a distinct Species Human beings, humans or man (Origin 1590–1600 L homō man OL hemō the earthly one (see Humus Because no species other than Homo sapiens has survived from the human line of that branching, both Pan species are the closest living relatives of humans, and cladistically exactly equally close to humans. Cladistics is the hierarchical classification of Species based on evolutionary ancestry

Physical characteristics

The Bonobo is more gracile (slight in form) than the Common Chimpanzee. Its head is smaller than that of the Common Chimpanzee with less prominent eyebrow ridges. It has a black face with pink lips, small ears, wide nostrils, and long hair on its head. Females have slightly more prominent breasts in contrast to the flat breasts of other female apes, though not as prominent as those of humans. The Bonobo also has a slim upper body, narrow shoulders, thin neck, and long legs compared with the Common Chimpanzee. The Bonobo walks upright about 25% of the time during ground locomotion. These characteristics, and its posture, gives the Bonobo a more human-like appearance than that of the Common Chimpanzee (see: bipedal Bonobos). Moreover, the Bonobo has highly individuated facial features, as humans do, so that one individual can look significantly different from another, adapted for visual recognition in social interaction.

Psychological characteristics

Frans de Waal, one of the world's leading primatologists, states that the Bonobo is often capable of altruism, compassion, empathy, kindness, patience and sensitivity. Frans BM de Waal, PhD (born 29 October 1948, 's-Hertogenbosch) is a Dutch Psychologist, Primatologist and Ethologist Primatology is the study of Primates It is a diverse Discipline and primatologists can be found in departments of Biology, Anthropology Altruism is selfless concern for the welfare of others It is a traditional Virtue in many cultures and central to many religious traditions Compassion is a profound human Emotion prompted by the pain of others Empathy is the capacity to recognize or understand another's state of mind or Emotion.

Recent observations in the wild indicate that the males among the Common Chimpanzee communities are extraordinarily hostile to males from outside of the community. Parties of males 'patrol' for the unfortunate neighbouring males who might be traveling alone, and attack those single males, often killing them. (Some researchers have suggested, however, that this behaviour has been caused by a combination of human contact and interference and massive environmental stress caused by deforestation and a corresponding range reduction. ^[13]) This does not appear to be the behavior of the Bonobo males or females, both of which seem to prefer sexual contact over violent confrontation with outsiders. The Bonobo lives in different areas from the more aggressive Common Chimpanzee. Neither of the species swims, and they sometimes inhabit ranges on opposite sides of the great Congo River. It has been hypothesized that Bonobos are able to live a more peaceful lifestyle in part because of an abundance of nutritious vegetation in their natural habitat, allowing them to travel and forage in large parties.

The popular image of the Bonobo as a "peaceful ape" has come under fire. Accounts exist of Bonobos in zoos mutilating one another and engaging in bullying. These incidents may be due to the practice in zoos of separating mothers and sons. Bonobo society is dominated by females, and severing the lifelong alliance between mothers and their male offspring may make them vulnerable to female aggression. De Waal has warned of the danger of romanticizing Bonobos: "All animals are competitive by nature and cooperative only under specific circumstances" as well as writing that "When first writing about their behavior, I spoke of 'sex for peace' precisely because bonobos had plenty of conflicts. There would obviously be no need for peacemaking if they lived in perfect harmony". In marked contrast to the Common Chimpanzee there are no confirmed reports of lethal aggression between Bonobos, either in the wild or in captivity. The immature state of Bonobo research in the wild compared to that of the Common Chimpanzee, however, means that lethal aggression may yet be discovered.

Sexual social behavior

Sexual intercourse plays a major role in Bonobo society, being used as a greeting, a means of conflict resolution and post-conflict reconciliation, and as favors traded by the females in exchange for food. Sexual intercourse, in its biological sense is the act in which the male reproductive organ (in humans and other higher animals enters the female reproductive tract Greeting (also called accosting) is a way for human beings (as well as other members of the animal kingdom to intentionally communicate awareness of each other's The term "conflict resolution" refers to a range of processes aimed at alleviating or eliminating sources of conflict Prostitution is the act of performing Sexual activity in exchange for Money. With the exception of a pair of Congoese gorillas caught in the act^[14], Bonobos were thought to be the only non-human apes to have been observed engaging in all of the following sexual activities: face-to-face genital sex (most frequently female-female, then male-female and male-male), tongue kissing, and oral sex. Sexual intercourse, in its biological sense is the act in which the male reproductive organ (in humans and other higher animals enters the female reproductive tract Tribadism or tribbing also known by the slang term scissoring is a form of Mutual masturbation in which a woman rubs her Vulva against her partner's Sexual intercourse, in its biological sense is the act in which the male reproductive organ (in humans and other higher animals enters the female reproductive tract Frot ( French frotter, to rub is male-male Non-penetrative sex, where male partners engage in the rubbing of erect Penis on erect penis typically A French kiss is a Kiss, usually romantic or sexual in nature in which one participant's Tongue touches the other's tongue and usually enters his or her Oral sex refers to sexual activities involving the use of the Mouth, and may include use of the Tongue, Teeth, and Throat, in order ^[15] In scientific literature, the female-female sex is often referred to as GG rubbing or genital-genital rubbing.

Sexual activity happens within the immediate family as well as outside it, and often involves adults and children, even infants. ^[16] Bonobos do not form permanent relationships with individual partners. Monogamy is the custom or condition of having only one mate in a Relationship, thus forming a Couple. They also do not seem to discriminate in their sexual behavior by gender or age, with the possible exception of sexual intercourse between mothers and their adult sons; some observers believe these pairings are taboo. When Bonobos come upon a new food source or feeding ground, the increased excitement will usually lead to communal sexual activity, presumably decreasing tension and allowing for peaceful feeding. ^[17]

Bonobo males frequently engage in various forms of male-male genital sex (frot). Frot ( French frotter, to rub is male-male Non-penetrative sex, where male partners engage in the rubbing of erect Penis on erect penis typically ^[18][19] One form has two males hang from a tree limb face-to-face while "penis fencing"^[20][21]. Frot may also occur where two males rub their penises together while in missionary position. A special form of frot called "rump rubbing" occurs to express reconciliation between two males after a conflict, where they stand back-to-back and rub their scrotal sacs together.

Bonobo females also engage in female-female genital sex (tribadism) to socially bond with each other, thus forming a female nucleus of Bonobo society. Tribadism or tribbing also known by the slang term scissoring is a form of Mutual masturbation in which a woman rubs her Vulva against her partner's The bonding between females allows them to dominate Bonobo society - although male Bonobos are individually stronger, they cannot stand alone against a united group of females. ^[21] Adolescent females often leave their native community to join another community. Sexual bonding with other females establishes the new females as members of the group. This migration mixes the Bonobo gene pools, providing genetic diversity. In Population genetics, a gene pool is the complete set of unique Alleles in a Species or Population. Genetic diversity is a level of Biodiversity that refers to the total number of genetic characteristics in the genetic makeup of a species

Bonobo reproductive rates are not any higher than that of the Common Chimpanzee. Female Bonobos carry and nurse their young for five years and can give birth every five to six years. Compared with Common Chimpanzees, Bonobo females resume the genital swelling cycle much sooner after giving birth, allowing them to rejoin the sexual activities of their society. Also, Bonobo females who are either sterile or too young to reproduce still engage in sexual activity.

Craig Stanford, an American primatologist, has challenged the claim that Bonobos are more sexually active than Common Chimpanzees. Stanford compared existing data on Common Chimpanzees and Bonobos in the natural habitat and found that female Common Chimpanzees copulated at least as often as female Bonobos, while male chimpanzees actually copulated more than male Bonobos. ^[22] His comparison excluded same-sex sexual contacts, however, which are very common in Bonobos. De Waal's book on Bonobos includes interviews with field workers and relies on the studies by Takayoshi Kano, the only scientist to have worked for two decades with wild Bonobos. ^[23] New studies in Africa by Gottfried Hohmann, a research associate at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology of Leipzig, Germany, believes to have seen significant violence, but fact remains that there are thus far no documented cases of lethal aggression among Bonobos, in sharp contrast to the evidence for Common Chimpanzees. ^[24]

Other social behavior

Females are somewhat smaller than males but can be considered to have a higher social status. Strong female bonding allows groups of female Bonobos to dominate the community. Aggressive encounters between males and females are rare, and males are tolerant of infants and juveniles. The male's status reflects the status of his mother, and the son-mother bond often stays strong and continues throughout life. While social hierarchies do exist, rank does not play as prominent a role as it does in other primate societies.

Bonobo party size tends to be variable since the groups exhibit a fission-fusion pattern. Many animals including humans tend to live in groups Herds flocks, bands packs, parties or colonies (hereafter groups of conspecific individuals In primatology a fission-fusion society is one in which the social group e A tribe of about a hundred will split into small groups during the day while looking for food, and then come back together to sleep. They sleep on trees in nests they construct. Unlike Common Chimpanzees, who are known to hunt monkeys, Bonobos are primarily frugivores, although they do eat insects and have been observed occasionally catching small mammals such as squirrels and duikers. A frugivore is an Animal that feeds primarily or in some cases exclusively on Fruit. Insects ( Class Insecta) are a major group of Arthropods and the most diverse group of Animals on the Earth with over a million described Mammals ( class Mammalia) are a class of Vertebrate Animals characterized by the presence of Sweat glands, including sweat glands A squirrel is one of the many small or medium-sized Rodents in the family Sciuridae. A duiker (ˈdaɪkɚ is any of about 19 small to medium-sized Antelope Species from the subfamily Cephalophinae native to Sub-Saharan Africa

Closeness to humanity

Bonobos are capable of passing the mirror-recognition test for self-awareness. The mirror test is a measure of Self-awareness developed by Gordon Gallup Jr They communicate through primarily vocal means, although the meanings of their vocalizations are not currently known. However, most humans do understand their facial expressions^[7] and some of their natural hand gestures, such as their invitation to play. Two Bonobos at the Great Ape Trust, Kanzi and Panbanisha, have been taught a vocabulary of over 3,000 words which they can type using a special keyboard of lexigrams (geometric symbols), and they can respond to spoken sentences. The Great Ape Trust is a 200-acre ape sanctuary and language study in Des Moines Iowa that houses Orangutans and bonobos. Kanzi (born October 28, 1980) is a male Bonobo who has been featured in several studies on Great ape language. Panpanzee, often called "Panzee" and Panbanisha are two Apes with whom research is being carried out in the United States A lexigram is a Symbol that represents a word but is not necessarily indicative of the object referenced by the word Some, such as philosopher and bioethicist Peter Singer, argue that these results qualify them for the "rights to survival and life," rights that humans theoretically accord to all persons. Bioethics is the philosophical study of the ethical controversies brought about by advances in Biology and Medicine. Peter Albert David Singer (born July 6, 1946 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia) is an Australian philosopher. Great ape personhood is a movement to create legal recognition of Bonobos Common chimpanzees Gorillas and Orangutans (the non- Human

Habitat

Around 10,000 Bonobos are found only south of the Congo River and north of the Kasai River (a tributary of the Congo),^[16] in the humid forests of the Democratic Republic of Congo of central Africa. The Congo River (for a time known as the Zaire River) is the largest River in Western Central Africa. The Kasai River is also a river in Bengal, and is one of the distributaries of the Ganges River. The Democratic Republic of the Congo includes the greater part of the Congo River Basin which covers an area of almost 1 million square kilometers (400000 sq They are an endangered species, due to both habitat loss and hunting for bushmeat, the latter activity having increased dramatically during the current civil war due to the presence of heavily armed militias even in remote "protected" areas such as Salonga National Park. An endangered species is a population of an organism which is at risk of becoming Extinct because it is either few in numbers or threatened by changing environmental or predation A habitat (which is Latin for "it inhabits" is an Ecological or environmental area that is inhabited by a particular Species. Bushmeat ( Calque from the French viande de brousse) is the term commonly used for Meat of terrestrial wild animals killed for Salonga National Park is a National park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo located in the Congo River basin Today, at most several thousand Bonobos remain. This is part of a more general trend of ape extinction.

Conservation efforts

Since 1996, the first and second Congo wars in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has had a major impact on both the Bonobo and human population. The First Congo War (November 1996 to May 1997 ended when Zairean President Mobutu Sésé Seko was overthrown by rebel forces backed by foreign powers such as The Second Congo War, also known as Africa's World War and the Great War of Africa, began in August 1998 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly The Democratic Republic of the Congo (République démocratique du Congo often referred to as DR Congo, DRC or RDC, and formerly known or referred to The people of the DRC now, more than ever, have a desire to protect their interests. Bonobos are in danger of being hunted to extinction. The key to Bonobo conservation efforts is balancing these issues.

As the Bonobo's habitat is shared with people, the ultimate success of conservation efforts will rely on local and community involvement. The issue of parks vs. people^[25] is very cogent in the Cuvette Centrale, the Bonobo's range. There is strong local and broad-based Congolese resistance to establishing national parks, as indigenous communities have often been driven from their forest homes by the establishment of parks. In Salonga, the only existing national park in the Bonobo habitat, there is no local involvement, and recent surveys indicate that the Bonobo, the African Forest Elephant, and other species have been severely devastated by poachers and the thriving bushmeat trade. The African Forest Elephant ( Loxodonta cyclotis) was until recently considered a Subspecies of the African Bush Elephant ( Loxodonta africana Poaching is the illegal Hunting, Fishing or Harvesting of wild plants or animals Bushmeat ( Calque from the French viande de brousse) is the term commonly used for Meat of terrestrial wild animals killed for In contrast to this, there are areas where the Bonobo and biodiversity still thrive without any established parks, due to the indigenous beliefs and taboos against killing Bonobos.

In 1995, concern over declining numbers of Bonobos in the wild led the Zoological Society of Milwaukee in Milwaukee, Wis. , with contributions from Bonobo scientists around the world, to publish the Action Plan for Pan paniscus: A Report on Free Ranging Populations and Proposals for their Preservation. The Action Plan compiles population data on Bonobos from 20 years of research conducted at various sites throughout the Bonobo's range. The plan identifies priority actions for Bonobo conservation and serves as a reference for developing conservation programs for researchers, government officials and donor agencies.

Acting on Action Plan recommendations, the ZSM developed the Bonobo and Congo Biodiversity Initiative (BCBI). This program includes habitat and rain-forest preservation, training for Congolese nationals and conservation institutions, wildlife population assessment and monitoring, and education. The Zoological Society has conducted regional surveys within the range of the Bonobo in conjunction with training Congolese researchers in survey methodology and biodiversity monitoring. The Zoological Society’s initial goal was to survey Salonga National Park to determine the conservation status of the Bonobo within the park and to provide financial and technical assistance to strengthen park protection. As the project has developed, the Zoological Society has become more involved in helping the Congolese living in Bonobo habitat. The Zoological Society has built schools, hired teachers, provided some medicines, and, as of 2007, started an agriculture project to help the Congolese learn to grow crops and depend less on hunting wild animals.

During the wars in the 1990s, researchers and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) were driven out of the Bonobo habitat. In 2002, the Bonobo Conservation Initiative initiated the Bonobo Peace Forest Project in cooperation with national institutions, local NGOs and local communities. The Peace Forest Project works with local communities to establish a linked constellation of community-based reserves, managed by local and indigenous people. Although there has been only limited support from international organizations, this model, implemented mainly through DRC organizations and local communities, has helped bring about agreements to protect over 5,000 square miles (13,000 km²) of the Bonobo habitat. According to Dr. Amy Parish, the Bonobo Peace Forest "…is going to be a model for conservation in the 21st century. "^[26]

This initiative has been gaining momentum and greater international recognition and has recently gained greater support through Conservation International, the Global Conservation Fund, United States Fish and Wildlife Service's Great Ape Conservation Fund, and the United Nations' Great Apes Survival Project. Conservation International (CI is a nonprofit organization headquartered in the Washington D The Great Apes Survival Project ( GRASP) established in 2001, aims to conserve the Great apes ( Chimpanzees Gorillas and Orangutans

With grants from the United Nations, USAID, the U. S. Embassy, the World Wildlife Fund and many other groups and individuals, the Zoological Society also has been working to:

• survey the Bonobo population and its habitat in order to find ways to help protect these apes
• develop anti-poaching measures to help save apes, forest elephants and other endangered animals in Congo's Salonga National Park, a U. N. World Heritage Site
• Provide training, literacy education, agricultural techniques, schools, equipment and jobs for Congolese living near Bonobo habitats so that they will have a vested interest in protecting the great apes. As of as of 2007, the ZSM started an agriculture project to help the Congolese learn to grow crops and depend less on hunting wild animals.
• model small-scale conservation methods that can be used throughout Congo

Starting in 2003, the U. S. government allocated $54 million to the Congo Basin Forest Partnership. This significant investment has triggered the involvement of international NGOs to establish bases in the region and work to develop Bonobo conservation programs. This initiative should improve the likelihood of Bonobo survival, but its success may still depend upon building greater involvement and capability in local and indigenous communities. ^[27]

The Congo is setting aside more than 11,000 square miles (28,000 km²) of rain forest to help protect the endangered Bonobo,in this Central African country. U. S. agencies, conservation groups and the Congolese government have come together to set aside 11,803 square miles (30,570 km²) of tropical rain forest, the U. S. -based Bonobo Conservation Initiative. The area amounts to just over 1 percent of vast Congo - but that means a park larger than the state of Massachusetts.

The Bonobo population is believed to have declined sharply in the last 30 years, though surveys have been hard to carry out in war-ravaged central Congo. Estimates range from 60,000 to fewer than 5,000 living, according to the World Wildlife Fund.

The Sankuru reserve also contains Okapi, closely related to the Giraffe, that is also native to Congo, elephants and at least 10 other primate species. The Okapi ( Okapia johnstoni) is a Mammal native to the Ituri Rainforest, located in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo The giraffe ( Giraffa camelopardalis) is an African Even-toed ungulate Mammal, the tallest of all land-living Animal Species

In addition, concerned parties have addressed the crisis on several science and ecological websites. Organizations like the World Wide Fund for Nature, the African Wildlife Foundation, and others are trying to focus attention on the extreme risk to the species. Some have suggested that a reserve be established in a less unstable part of Africa, or on an island in a place like Indonesia. Non-invasive medical research could be conducted on relocated free Bonobos with little risk or discomfort.

See also

• Chimpanzee genome project
• Great ape personhood
• List of apes – notable individual apes
• List of fictional apes

References

Further reading

Books

• de Waal, Frans and Frans Lanting, Bonobo: The Forgotten Ape, University of California Press, 1997. Frans BM de Waal, PhD (born 29 October 1948, 's-Hertogenbosch) is a Dutch Psychologist, Primatologist and Ethologist Frans Lanting, (born July 131951 was born in Rotterdam and is a Dutch nature Photographer specializing in Wildlife University of California Press, also known as UC Press, is a Publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in Academic ISBN 0-520-20535-9; ISBN 0-520-21651-2 (trade paperback)
• de Waal, Frans, Our Inner Ape, Riverhead Books, 2005. Riverhead Books is a division of Penguin Group (USA. Notable books and major bestsellers published by Riverhead include Journals by Kurt Cobain ISBN 1-57322-312-3
• Kano, Takayoshi, The Last Ape: Pygmy Chimpanzee Behavior and Ecology, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1992. The Stanford University Press is the Publishing house of Stanford University.
• Savage-Rumbaugh, Sue and Roger Lewin, Kanzi: The Ape at the Brink of the Human Mind, John Wiley, 1994. Sue Savage-Rumbaugh is a Primatologist most famous for her work with two Bonobos, Kanzi and Panbanisha, investigating their apparent use of " For the psychiatrist Roger A Lewin see the Lewin disambiguation page ISBN 0-471-58591-2; ISBN 0-471-15959-X (trade paperback)

Articles

• de Waal, Frans, "Bonobos, Left & Right", Skeptic, August 8, 2007. In ordinary usage skepticism or scepticism ( Greek 'σκέπτομαι' skeptomai, to look about to consider see also spelling differences Events 1220 - Sweden is defeated by Estonian tribes in the Battle of Lihula. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century.
• DeBartolo, Anthony. "The Bonobo: 'Newest' apes are teaching us about ourselves", Chicago Tribune June 11, 1998. The Chicago Tribune is a major daily Newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, and owned by the Tribune Company Events 1184 BC - Trojan War: Troy is sacked and burned according to the calculations of Eratosthenes. Year 1998 ( MCMXCVIII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar)
• Parker, Ian. "Swingers: Bonobos are celebrated as peace-loving, matriarchal, and sexually liberated. Are they?" The New Yorker, July 30, 2007. The New Yorker is an American Magazine that publishes reportage commentary criticism essays fiction satire cartoons and poetry Events 1419 - First Defenestration of Prague. 1502 - Christopher Columbus lands at Guanaja in the Bay Islands off Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century.

External links

• ARKive - BBC images and movies of the bonobo (Pan paniscus)
• Evolution: Why Sex?
• Bonobo Social Organization
• Bonobos: Wildlife summary from the African Wildlife Foundation
• Chimpanzee and Human Behaviors
• Bonobos by D'Lynn Waldron
• Bonobos: The Left-Bank Chimpanzees
• The Bonobo Initiative
• Bonobo Sex and Society
• The Great Ape Trust: Studying the Bonobo
• NPR's Science Friday piece on bonobos
• Primate Info Net Pan paniscus Factsheet
• U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Species Profile
• "The Last Great Ape", an episode of Nova. Nova is a Popular science Television series from the US produced by WGBH Boston
• Susan Savage-Rumbaugh: Apes that write, start fires and play Pac-Man (TED Talk)
• Image: bonobos genito-genital rubbing

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