Bonobo: The Forgotten Ape by Frans de Waal is the best photograph and information book on the Bonobo Chimpanzees that i have seen so far. Frans de Waal is my favorite author (besides Jane Goodall of course) covering the chimpanzees and bonobos.
For those of you who are not that familiar with the wonderful Bonobos, i would really like to recommend this book. This is a large book with almost every page having full color photos. Bonobo: The Forgotten Ape does a great job of introducing the bonobos and comparing them to chimpanzees, orangutans and gorillas. Also, they take a look at early humans, most notably “Lucy” the Australopithecus, and you can see a few similarities between the bonobos and Lucy.
There is a fascinating Interview with Sue Savage-Rumbaugh, who worked with the most famous Bonobo, Kanzi. In fact, there are many Kanzi references in this book, so if you are a fan of the great language learning ape, you should check this book out.
Many photos show the bonobos walking upright, something that is very easy for them to do. This allows the bonobos to move about using only their legs, leaving their hands free to carry food and other things like bonobo made tools.
The Forgotten Ape tells of the history of the Bonobos. In the 1920’s people believed that no apes lived south of the Zaire River, however in 1927 the Tervuren Museum in Belgium received a bonobo skull from a town south of the Zaire which lead to the discovery of the great apes 2 years later.
Sex is the glue of Bonobo Society. Many people call the bonobos the “make love not war” chimpanzee because of their frequent use of sex. The bonobos are the ultimate love makers in the animal kingdom (besides humans of course) because they will copulate in many different positions, including face to face. The orangutans are also very sexy, i have witnessed Orangutans mating for minutes on end in a strange position, male on his back and female sitting on top with her back towards the male. What made this experience even stranger is the fact that the male was staring at myself the whole time.
Who should buy this book? If you are a lover of the great apes, particularly the chimpanzees and bonobos, this book is a must have. If you are interested in learning about our early human relatives, the bonobos are probably the closest things to a living relative. With full color photos and jam packed with amazing information, this is the ultimate bonobo book!
For further reading, please check out all of the animal books that i have reviewed. Also please feel free to check out some of my animal pictures that i have taken!
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