Why do Chimpanzees and Bonobos have different social traits?

It's been a puzzle why our two closest living primate relatives, chimpanzees and bonobos, have widely different social traits, despite belonging to the same genus. Now, a comparative analysis of their brains shows neuroanatomical differences that may be responsible for these behaviors, from the aggression more typical of chimpanzees to the social tolerance of bonobos.


"What's remarkable is that the data appears to match what we know about the human brain and behavior," says Emory anthropologist James Rilling, who led the analysis. "The neural circuitry that mediates anxiety, empathy and the inhibition of aggression in humans is better developed in bonobos than in chimpanzees."

The journal of Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience published the results April 5, the most comprehensive comparative analysis to date of the neural systems of chimpanzees and bonobos.

"By contributing to our basic understanding of how brain anatomy relates to social behavior, this study may provide clues to the brain dysfunction underlying human social behavioral disorders like psychopathy and autism," Rilling says.

Chimpanzees and bonobos diverged from a common ancestor with humans about six million years ago, and from each other just one-to-two million years ago. Despite this relatively brief separation in evolutionary terms, the two species exhibit significant differences in social behavior. Compared with chimpanzees, bonobos are more anxious, less aggressive, more socially tolerant, more playful, more sexual and perhaps more empathic.

"Chimpanzees tend to resolve conflict by using aggression, while bonobos are more likely to use behavioral mechanisms like sex and play to diffuse tension," Rilling says. "The social behaviors of the two species mirror individual differences within the human population."

Rilling heads Emory's Laboratory for Darwinian Neuroscience, a leader in the use of non-invasive neuro-imaging technology to compare the neurobiology of humans and other primates. The lab draws on resources of Emory's Yerkes National Primate Research Center.

"In addition to exploring links between neuroanatomy and different social behaviors, we're mapping the underlying biology for how species evolve and differentiate," Rilling says.

A range of imaging and analytical techniques were used in the chimpanzee-bonobo study. Voxel-based morphometry compared the gray matter in standard structural scans of the brains. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) captured the white matter connections, to compare the fiber tracts that "wire" the brain.

The results showed that bonobos have more developed circuitry for key nodes within the limbic system, the so-called emotional part of the brain, including the amygdala, the hypothalamus and the anterior insula. The anterior insula and the amygdala are both implicated in human empathy.

"We also found that the pathway connecting the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex is larger in bonobos than chimpanzees," Rilling says. "When our amygdala senses that our actions are causing someone else distress, we may use that pathway to adjust our behavior in a prosocial direction."

Chimpanzees have better developed visual system pathways, according to the analysis. Previous research has suggested that those pathways are important for tool use, a skill which chimpanzees appear better at than bonobos.

Provided by Emory University (news : web)
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Peaceful bonobos may have something to teach humans

Humans share 98.7 percent of our DNA with chimpanzees, but we share one important similarity with one species of chimp, the common chimpanzee, that we don't share with the other, the bonobo. That similarity is violence. While humans and the common chimpanzee wage war and kill each other, bonobos do not. "There has never been a recorded case in captivity or in the wild of a bonobo killing another bonobo," notes anthropologist Brian Hare.

Hare is an assistant professor in evolutionary anthropology at Duke University. With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), he and his wife and colleague, Vanessa Woods, studied bonobo behavior at Lola ya Bonobo in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, an orphanage for young bonobos whose parents were killed for the bush meat trade. The war-torn Congo is the only place in the world where these endangered apes can be found.

"We go to this sanctuary and we play these fun problem-solving games with them to just try and get inside their heads and figure out exactly how they think," says Woods. "They're wonderful animals to be related to. It's a shame so few people have heard of them."

Woods is author of the book "Bonobo Handshake," a memoir about her experiences with these peaceful, playful primates, and some of the differences she noted between bonobos and common chimpanzees.

"Chimpanzees can be very empathetic, loving but they also have this darker side. They have war, they kill each other, they beat their females. Bonobos don't really have any of that," explains Woods. "They're different because they've managed to live in a society virtually without violence. How do they do that? Humans, for all of our intelligence and all our technology, we haven't managed to live without war, and so I think that's something very important that bonobos can teach us."

One way bonobos deal with conflict and tension is to have sex. Yes, they're the ultimate hippies--they make love, not war. "Whenever things get tense in the bonobo world, they'll usually have some kind of sociosexual activity and this seems to really help everybody get along. But another one of the ways that they sort of have this peaceful society is they're naturally more tolerant. They share more, and if one of them gets upset, it's not just sex but they can also hug and comfort one another."

In one study, Woods and Hare were surprised when a hungry bonobo opened a gate to share prized treats with another bonobo. "The idea that you would give something to someone else at a cost to yourself, we thought this was something only humans would do."

Bonobos' generous nature likely evolved because they live in an area of the Congo where food is plentiful. They never had to compete with gorillas or kill for a meal like common chimps do.

The females stick together, creating a matriarchal society, and when necessary will gang up on threatening males. "Females will work together to protect themselves from male aggression. So male aggression is just simply not tolerated," says Hare.

With chimps, the most aggressive males tend to team up to dominate females and weaker males. In bonobo society, Hare says it's the mother and son relationship that commands the most respect.

"Basically, bonobos are the ultimate 'mama's boys.' Essentially, it's more like a debutante society where mothers have to introduce their sons into polite society and it's through your mother, as a bonobo, that you will gain access to other females," explains Hare.

How did two such similar species, the bonobo and the common chimpanzee, evolve so differently? Hare says understanding that may shed light on human behavior, considering that we are a lot like both of them.

"Humans are probably the most generous species on the planet," notes Hare, which is very bonobo-like. But like chimps, Hare says, we have that dark side. "Bonobos don't have a darker side. So, although they can't fly to the moon, they don't kill each other. I think they challenge your normal notion of what intelligence is. I think we have a lot to learn from them."
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Chimpanzee and Bonobo education

"Panina" redirects here. For the Russian surname Panina, see Panin (disambiguation).
Chimpanzee, sometimes colloquially chimp, is the common name for the two extant species of ape in the genus Pan. The Congo River forms the boundary between the native habitat of the two species:[2]
Common Chimpanzee, Pan troglodytes (West and Central Africa)
Bonobo, Pan paniscus (forests of the Democratic Republic of the Congo)

Chimpanzees are members of the Hominidae family, along with gorillas, humans, and orangutans. Chimpanzees split from human evolution about 6 million years ago and the two chimpanzee species are the closest living relatives to humans, all being members of the Hominini tribe (along with extinct species of Hominina subtribe). Chimpanzees are the only known members of the Panina subtribe. The two Pan species split only about one million years ago.

Common Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
Family: Hominidae
Subfamily: Homininae
Tribe: Hominini
Subtribe: Panina
Genus: Pan
Oken, 1816
Type species
Pan troglodytes (Common Chimpanzee)
Pan paniscus (Bonobo)

Species
Pan troglodytes
Pan paniscus

Distribution of Pan troglodytes (Common Chimpanzee) and Pan paniscus (Bonobo, in red).

The taxonomic relationships of Hominoidea
Evolutionary relationship:
History of hominoid taxonomy

The taxonomic relationships of HominoideaThe genus Pan is considered to be part of the subfamily Homininae to which humans also belong. These two species are the closest living evolutionary relatives to humans, sharing a common ancestor with humans six million years ago.[3] Research by Mary-Claire King in 1973 found 99% identical DNA between human beings and chimpanzees,[4] although research since has modified that finding to about 94%[5] commonality, with some of the difference occurring in non-coding DNA. It has been proposed that troglodytes and paniscus belong with sapiens in the genus Homo, rather than in Pan. One of the arguments for this is that other species have been reclassified to belong to the same genus on the basis of less genetic similarity than that between humans and chimpanzees.

Fossils
A lot of human fossils have been found, but chimpanzee fossils were not described until 2005. Existing chimpanzee populations in West and Central Africa do not overlap with the major human fossil sites in East Africa. However, chimpanzee fossils have now been reported from Kenya. This would indicate that both humans and members of the Pan clade were present in the East African Rift Valley during the Middle Pleistocene.[6]

Anatomy and physiology
The male common chimp is up to 1.7 metres (5.6 ft) high when standing, and weighs as much as 70 kilograms (150 lb); the female is somewhat smaller. The common chimp’s long arms, when extended, have a span one and a half times as long as the body’s height and a chimpanzee's arms are longer than its legs.[7] The bonobo is a little shorter and thinner than the common chimpanzee but has longer limbs. Both species use their long, powerful arms for climbing in trees. On the ground, chimpanzees usually walk on all fours using their knuckles for support with their hands clenched, a form of locomotion called knuckle-walking. Chimpanzee feet are better suited for walking than are those of the orangutan because the chimp’s soles are broader and the toes shorter. Both the common chimpanzee and bonobo can walk upright on two legs when carrying objects with their hands and arms. The Bonobo has proportionately longer upper limbs and tends to walk upright more often than the Common Chimpanzee. The coat is dark; the face, fingers, palms of the hands, and soles of the feet are hairless; and the chimp has no tail. The exposed skin of the face, hands and feet varies from pink to very dark in both species, but is generally lighter in younger individuals, darkening as maturity is reached. A University of Chicago Medical Centre study has found significant genetic differences between chimpanzee populations.[8] A bony shelf over the eyes gives the forehead a receding appearance, and the nose is flat. Although the jaws protrude, the lips are thrust out only when a chimp pouts. The brain of a chimpanzee is about half the size of the human brain.[9]

Chimpanzee testicles are unusually large for their body size, with a combined weight of about 4 ounces (110 g) compared to a gorilla's 1 ounce (28 g) or a human's 1.5 ounces (43 g). This is generally attributed to sperm competition due to the polyandrous nature of chimpanzee mating behavior.[10] Chimpanzees reach puberty at an age of between 8 and 10 years and rarely live past the age of 40 in the wild, but have been known to reach the age of more than 60 in captivity.

Bonobo


Behaviors

BonoboAnatomical differences between the Common Chimpanzee and the Bonobo are slight, but in sexual and social behaviour there are marked differences. The Common Chimpanzee has an omnivorous diet, a troop hunting culture based on beta males led by an alpha male, and highly complex social relationships. The Bonobo, on the other hand, has a mostly frugivorous diet and an egalitarian, nonviolent, matriarchal, sexually receptive behaviour.[11] Bonobos are well known to have frequent sex, with bisexuality the norm for both males and females, and also to use sex to help prevent and resolve conflicts. Different groups of chimpanzees also have different cultural behaviour with preferences for types of tools.[12] The Common Chimpanzee tends to display higher levels of aggression than the Bonobo.[13]

Social structure
Chimpanzees live in large multi-male and multi-female social groups called communities. Within a community there is a definite social hierarchy which is dictated by the position of an individual and the influence the individual has on others. Chimpanzees live in a leaner hierarchy in which more than one individual may be dominant enough to dominate other members of lower rank. Typically there is a dominant male referred to as the Alpha male. The Alpha male is the highest-ranking male who controls the group and maintains order during any disputes. In chimpanzee society the 'dominant male' does not always have to be the largest or strongest male but rather the most manipulative and political male who can influence the goings on within a group. Male chimpanzees typically attain dominance through cultivating allies who will provide support for that individual in case of future ambitions for power. Its within a male chimpanzee's character to display in an attempt to show strength and recognition from others which may be fundamental to holding on to status. The alpha male will regularly display by making their normally slim coats puffed up to increase view size and charge to look as threatening and as powerful as possible to intimidate other members in an attempt to hold on to power and maintain authority. Lower-ranking chimpanzees will show respect by making submissive gestures in body language or reaching out their hand while grunting. Female chimpanzees will show deference to the alpha male by presenting their hind-quarters.

Female chimpanzees also have a hierarchy which is influenced by the position of a female individual within a group. In some chimpanzee communities, the young females may inherit high status from a high-ranking mother. The females will also form allies to dominate lower-ranking females. In contrast to males who have a main purpose of acquiring dominant status for access to mating privileges and sometimes violent domination of subordinates, females acquire dominant status for access to resources such as food. High-ranking females will often get first access to resources. In general, both genders acquire dominant status to improve social standing within a group.

Its often the females who choose the alpha male. For a male chimpanzee to win the alpha status he must gain acceptance from the females in the community as they are the ones who actually dictate the way the lifestyles are set up (the females are the ones who ensure the survival of the next generation; they have to make sure that their group is going to places that supply them with enough food). There are cases where a group of dominant females will oust an alpha male who is not to their preference and rather back up the other male who they see potential of leading the group as a successful alpha male.

Intelligence
Diagram of brain. Topography of the main groups of foci in the motor field of ChimpanzeeChimpanzees make tools and use them to acquire foods and for social displays; they have sophisticated hunting strategies requiring cooperation, influence and rank; they are status conscious, manipulative and capable of deception; they can learn to use symbols and understand aspects of human language including some relational syntax, concepts of number and numerical sequence;[14] and they are capable of spontaneous planning for a future state or event.[15]

Diagram of brain. Topography of the main groups of foci in the motor field of Chimpanzee

Tool use
One of the most significant discoveries was in October 1960 when Jane Goodall observed the use of tools among chimpanzees. Recent research indicates that chimpanzee stone tool use dates to at least 4,300 years ago.[16] Chimpanzee tool usage includes digging into termite mounds with a large stick tool, and then using a small stick that has been altered to "fish" the termites out.[17] A recent study revealed the use of such advanced tools as spears, with which Common Chimpanzees in Senegal sharpen with their teeth and use to spear Senegal Bushbabies out of small holes in trees.[18][19] Before the discovery of tool use in chimps, it was believed that humans were the only species to make and use tools, but several other tool-using species are now known.[20][21]

Empathy
Chimpanzee mother and babyRecent studies have shown that chimpanzees engage in apparently altruistic behaviour within groups,[22][23] but are indifferent to the welfare of unrelated group members.[24]

Chimpanzee mother and baby

Evidence for "chimpanzee spirituality" includes display of mourning, "incipient romantic love", "rain dance", appreciation of natural beauty such as a sunset over a lake, curiosity and respect towards wildlife (such as the python, which is neither a threat nor a food source to chimpanzees), empathy toward other species (such as feeding turtles) and even "animism" or "pretend play" in chimps cradling and grooming rocks or sticks.[25]

Communication
Chimps communicate in a manner similar to human non-verbal communication, using vocalizations, hand gestures, and facial expressions. Research into the chimpanzee brain has revealed that chimp communication activates an area of the chimp brain that is in the same position as Broca's area, the language center in the human brain.[26]

Studies of language

Side profile of a Chimpanzee

Scientists have long been fascinated with the studies of language, believing it to be a unique human cognitive ability. To test this hypothesis, scientists have attempted to teach human language to several species of great apes. One early attempt by Allen and Beatrice Gardner in the 1960s involved spending 51 months teaching American Sign Language to a chimpanzee named Washoe. The Gardners reported that Washoe learned 151 signs, and that she had spontaneously taught them to other chimpanzees.[27] Over a longer period of time, Washoe learned over 800 signs.[28]

There is ongoing debate among some scientists, notably Noam Chomsky and David Premack, about non-human great apes' ability to learn language. Since the early reports on Washoe, numerous other studies have been conducted with varying levels of success,[29] including one involving a chimpanzee named, in parody, Nim Chimpsky, trained by Herbert Terrace of Columbia University. Although his initial reports were quite positive, in November 1979, Terrace and his team re-evaluated the videotapes of Nim with his trainers, analyzing them frame by frame for signs as well as for exact context (what was happening both before and after Nim’s signs). In the re-analysis, Terrace concluded that Nim’s utterances could be explained merely as prompting on the part of the experimenters, as well as mistakes in reporting the data. “Much of the apes’ behavior is pure drill,” he said. “Language still stands as an important definition of the human species.” In this reversal, Terrace now argued that Nim’s use of ASL was not like human language acquisition. Nim never initiated conversations himself, rarely introduced new words, and simply imitated what the humans did. Nim’s sentences also did not grow in length, unlike human children whose vocabulary and sentence length show a strong positive correlation.[30]

Memory
A 30-year study at Kyoto University’s Primate Research Institute has shown that chimps are able to learn to recognize the numbers 1-9 and their values. The chimps further show an aptitude for photographic memory, demonstrated in experiments in which the jumbled digits 1-9 are flashed onto a computer screen for less than a quarter of a second, after which the chimp, Ayumu, is able to correctly and quickly point to the positions where they appeared in ascending order. The same experiment was failed by world memory champion Ben Pridmore on most attempts.[31]

Laughter in apes
Young chimpanzees playingLaughter might not be confined or unique to humans. The differences between chimpanzee and human laughter may be the result of adaptations that have evolved to enable human speech. Self-awareness of one's situation as seen in the mirror test, or the ability to identify with another's predicament (see mirror neurons), are prerequisites for laughter, so animals may be laughing in the same way that humans do.

Young chimpanzees playing

Chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans show laughterlike vocalizations in response to physical contact, such as wrestling, play chasing, or tickling. This is documented in wild and captive chimpanzees. Common Chimpanzee laughter is not readily recognizable to humans as such, because it is generated by alternating inhalations and exhalations that sound more like breathing and panting. There are instances in which non-human primates have been reported to have expressed joy. One study analyzed and recorded sounds made by human babies and Bonobos when tickled. It found that although the Bonobo's laugh was a higher frequency, the laugh followed a pattern similar to that of human babies and included similar facial expressions. Humans and chimpanzees share similar ticklish areas of the body, such as the armpits and belly. The enjoyment of tickling in chimpanzees does not diminish with age.[32]
Aggression

Male chimpanzees in Mahale National Park, Tanzania
Common Chimpanzees, particularly males, can be very aggressive. They are highly territorial and are known to kill other chimps.[33] Chimpanzees also engage in targeted hunting of lower order primates such as the red colobus[34] and bush babies,[35][36] and use the meat from these kills as a "social tool" within their community.[37] In February 2009, after an incident in which a pet chimp named Travis attacked and mutilated a woman in Stamford, Connecticut, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a primate pet ban in the United States.[38]

Interactions with humans
History
Gregoire: 62-year-old chimpanzeeAfricans have had contact with chimpanzees for millennia. Chimpanzees have been kept as pets for centuries in a few African villages, especially in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In Virunga National Park in the east of the country the park authorities regularly confiscate chimpanzees from people who are keeping them as pets.[39] The first recorded contact of Europeans with chimps took place in present-day Angola during the 17th century. The diary of Portuguese explorer Duarte Pacheco Pereira (1506), preserved in the Portuguese National Archive (Torre do Tombo), is probably the first European document to acknowledge that chimpanzees built their own rudimentary tools.

Male chimpanzees in Mahale National Park, Tanzania
The first use of the name "chimpanzee", however, did not occur until 1738. The name is derived from a Tshiluba language term "kivili-chimpenze", which is the local name for the animal and translates loosely as "mockman" or possibly just "ape". The colloquialism "chimp" was most likely coined some time in the late 1870s.[40] Biologists applied Pan as the genus name of the animal. Chimps as well as other apes had also been purported to have been known to Western writers in ancient times, but mainly as myths and legends on the edge of European and Arab societal consciousness, mainly through fragmented and sketchy accounts of European adventurers. Apes are mentioned variously by Aristotle, as well as the English Bible, where they are described as having been collected by Solomon. (1 Kings 10:22. However the Hebrew word, qőf, may mean a monkey.) Apes are mentioned in the Qur'an (7:166), where God tells Israelites who transgressed Shabbat "Be ye apes".
The first of these early transcontinental chimpanzees came from Angola and were presented as a gift to Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange in 1640, and were followed by a few of its brethren over the next several years. Scientists described these first chimpanzees as "pygmies", and noted the animals' distinct similarities to humans. The next two decades would see a number of the creatures imported into Europe, mainly acquired by various zoological gardens as entertainment for visitors.

Hugo Rheinhold's Affe mit Schädel ("Ape with skull") is an example of how chimps were viewed at the end of the 19th century
Hugo Rheinhold's Affe mit Schädel ("Ape with skull") is an example of how chimps were viewed at the end of the 19th century.Darwin's theory of natural selection (published in 1859) spurred scientific interest in chimpanzees, as in much of life science, leading eventually to numerous studies of the animals in the wild and captivity. The observers of chimpanzees at the time were mainly interested in behaviour as it related to that of humans. This was less strictly and disinterestedly scientific than it might sound, with much attention being focused on whether or not the animals had traits that could be considered 'good'; the intelligence of chimpanzees was often significantly exaggerated, as immortalized in Hugo Rheinhold's Affe mit Schädel (see image, left). By the end of the 19th century chimpanzees remained very much a mystery to humans, with very little factual scientific information available.

Chimpanzee at the Los Angeles Zoo

The 20th century saw a new age of scientific research into chimpanzee behaviour. Before 1960, almost nothing was known about chimpanzee behaviour in their natural habitat. In July of that year, Jane Goodall set out to Tanzania's Gombe forest to live among the chimpanzees, where she primarily studied the members of the Kasakela chimpanzee community. Her discovery that chimpanzees made and used tools was groundbreaking, as humans were previously believed to be the only species to do so. The most progressive early studies on chimpanzees were spearheaded primarily by Wolfgang Köhler and Robert Yerkes, both of whom were renowned psychologists. Both men and their colleagues established laboratory studies of chimpanzees focused specifically on learning about the intellectual abilities of chimpanzees, particularly problem-solving. This typically involved basic, practical tests on laboratory chimpanzees, which required a fairly high intellectual capacity (such as how to solve the problem of acquiring an out-of-reach banana). Notably, Yerkes also made extensive observations of chimpanzees in the wild which added tremendously to the scientific understanding of chimpanzees and their behaviour. Yerkes studied chimpanzees until World War II, while Köhler concluded five years of study and published his famous Mentality of Apes in 1925 (which is coincidentally when Yerkes began his analyses), eventually concluding that "chimpanzees manifest intelligent behaviour of the general kind familiar in human beings ... a type of behaviour which counts as specifically human" (1925).[41]

The August 2008 issue of the American Journal of Primatology reported results of a year-long study of chimpanzees in Tanzania’s Mahale Mountains National Park which produced evidence that chimpanzees are becoming sick from viral infectious diseases they have likely contracted from humans. Molecular, microscopic and epidemiological investigations demonstrated that the chimpanzees living at Mahale Mountains National Park have been suffering from a respiratory disease that is likely caused by a variant of a human paramyxovirus.[42]
Studies

Enos the space chimp before being inserted into the Mercury-Atlas 5 capsule in 1961.As of November 2007, there were 1,300 chimpanzees housed in 10 U.S. laboratories (out of 3,000 great apes living in captivity there), either wild-caught, or acquired from circuses, animal trainers, or zoos.[43] Most of the labs either conduct or make the chimps available for invasive research,[44] defined as "inoculation with an infectious agent, surgery or biopsy conducted for the sake of research and not for the sake of the chimpanzee, and/or drug testing".[45] Two federally-funded laboratories use chimps: Yerkes National Primate Research Laboratory at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, and the Southwest National Primate Center in San Antonio, Texas.[46] Five hundred chimps have been retired from laboratory use in the U.S. and live in sanctuaries in the U.S. or Canada.[44]
Chimpanzees used in biomedical research tend to be used repeatedly over decades, rather than used and killed as with most laboratory animals. Some individual chimps currently in U.S. laboratories have been used in experiments for over 40 years.[47] According to Project R&R, a campaign to release chimps held in U.S. labs—run by the New England Anti-Vivisection Society in conjunction with Jane Goodall and other primate researchers—the oldest known chimp in a U.S. lab is Wenka, who was born in a laboratory in Florida on May 21, 1954.[48] She was removed from her mother on the day of birth to be used in a vision experiment that lasted 17 months, then sold as a pet to a family in North Carolina. She was returned to the Yerkes National Primate Research Center in 1957 when she became too big to handle. Since then, she has given birth six times, and has been used in research into alcohol use, oral contraceptives, ageing, and cognitive studies.[49]

With the publication of the chimpanzee genome, there are reportedly plans to increase the use of chimps in labs, with some scientists arguing that the federal moratorium on breeding chimps for research should be lifted.[46][50] A five-year moratorium was imposed by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 1996, because too many chimps had been bred for HIV research, and it has been extended annually since 2001.[46]

Other researchers argue that chimps are unique animals and either should not be used in research, or should be treated differently. Pascal Gagneux, an evolutionary biologist and primate expert at the University of California, San Diego, argues that, given chimpanzees' sense of self, tool use, and genetic similarity to human beings, studies using chimps should follow the ethical guidelines that are used for human subjects unable to give consent.[46] Also, a recent study suggests that chimpanzees which are retired from labs exhibit a form of posttraumatic stress disorder.[51] Stuart Zola, director of the Yerkes National Primate Research Laboratory, disagrees. He told National Geographic: "I don't think we should make a distinction between our obligation to treat humanely any species, whether it's a rat or a monkey or a chimpanzee. No matter how much we may wish it, chimps are not human."[46]

An increasing number of governments are enacting a Great Ape research ban forbidding the use of chimpanzees and other great apes in research or toxicology testing.[52] As of 2006, Austria, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the UK had introduced such bans.[53]

In popular culture
Chimpanzees have been commonly stereotyped in popular culture, where they are most often cast in standardized roles[54] as childlike companions, sidekicks or clowns.[55] They are especially suited for the latter role on account of their prominent facial features, long limbs and fast movements, which humans often find amusing.[55] Accordingly, entertainment acts featuring chimpanzees dressed up as humans have been traditional staples of circuses and stage shows.[55]

In the age of television, a new genre of chimp act emerged in the United States: series whose cast consisted entirely of chimpanzees dressed as humans and "speaking" lines dubbed by human actors.[54] These shows, examples of which include Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp in the 1970s or The Chimp Channel in the 1990s, relied on the novelty of their ape cast to make their timeworn, low comedy gags funny.[54] Their chimpanzee "actors" were as interchangeable as the apes in a circus act, being amusing as chimpanzees and not as individuals.[54] Animal rights group, PETA, has urged advertisers against the use of chimpanzees in television and commercials, citing animal abuse.[56]

When chimpanzees appear in other TV shows, they generally do so as comic relief sidekicks to humans. In that role, for instance, J. Fred Muggs appeared with Today Show host Dave Garroway in the 1950s, Judy on Daktari in the 1960s or Darwin on The Wild Thornberrys in the 1990s.[54] In contrast to the fictional depictions of other animals, such as dogs (as in Lassie), dolphins (Flipper), horses (The Black Stallion) or even other great apes (King Kong), chimpanzee characters and actions are rarely relevant to the plot.[54]

Portrayals in science fictionThe rare depictions of chimpanzees as individuals rather than stock characters, and as central rather than incidental to the plot[54] are generally found in works of science fiction. Robert A. Heinlein's short story "Jerry Was a Man" (1947) centers on a genetically enhanced chimpanzee suing for better treatment. The 1972 film Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, set in the near future, portrays a revolt of enslaved apes led by the only talking chimpanzee, Caesar, against their human masters.[54] Another short story "The Pope of the Chimps" by Robert Silverberg, set in the present day, shows the development of the first signs of religiosity in a group of chimpanzees, much to the surprise of the humans observing them. David Brin's Uplift novels present a future in which humans have "uplifted" chimpanzees (and certain other species) with human-level sapience.
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What is a Bonobo Ape?

It is difficult to answer the question: "What is a Bonobo?" Bonobos are complex beings with profound intelligence, emotionality, and sensitivity. It's like asking the question: "What is a human?" And, how do you answer? Philosophers, scientists, and mystics have been trying to figure it out for thousands of years!

Biologically speaking, bonobos are the closest you can get to being human without being human. Bonobos look more like humans than other apes, and display many behavioral similarities as well. Bonobos and people share more than 98% of the same genetic make-up (DNA). Bonobos and their cousins the chimpanzees, are more closely related genetically to us than they are to gorillas! But, like gorillas, they dwell only in the equatorial forests of central Africa, the cradle of humanity itself.

Bonobos are great apes, along with chimpanzees, orangutans, and gorillas. Because we share so many characteristics with these simian species, some scientists contend that humans should be classified as apes too. Indigenous people who have dwelled among bonobos in the Congo forest have many legends about how bonobos and man were brothers in the distant past. They tell stories about how bonobos showed people what foods to eat in the forest, how a bonobo saved a man who needed help, how bonobos themselves are trying to become human.
These apes have fascinated indigenous people of Africa for hundreds, even thousands of years, yet to most of the world's population, they have been known to exist only for the span of one lifetime. Bonobos were not discovered by scientists until 1933, and even then, not alive, but in the Tervuren Museum in Belgium, identified by means of a skull. Classified as Pan paniscus, bonobos have been studied in the wild and in captivity for about 30 years, since the mid-1970s. They dwell in the tropical forests of the Congo Basin south of the Congo River. Bonobos are found in only one country: the Democratic Republic of Congo (former Zaire), a resource-rich region ravaged by years of war.
Although more research is needed to determine current populations, we do know that that their numbers have been decimated during the war. Urgent help is needed.

A Different Breed of Ape

Bonobos stand apart from the other great apes in fascinating and important ways.

Physically, their anatomy most closely resembles Australopithecus, our early human ancestor. Bonobos walk bipedally, on two feet, more easily and for longer periods of time than the other apes. They are highly intelligent. Some bonobos in captivity have even learned to use human language! But perhaps the most compelling feature of bonobos is their society.

Peaceful and powered by females
... In contrast to the competitive, male-dominated culture of their close relative the chimpanzee, bonobo society is peaceful, matriarchal and more egalitarian. Bonobos live in large groups where harmonious coexistence is the norm. While in many ways, males and females have "separate but equal" roles, females carry the highest rank, and the sons of ranking females are the leaders among males. Females form close bonds and alliances, which is another way they maintain their power among males, who are larger and stronger physically.

Like chimps, bonobo society is "male philopatric," meaning that the females migrate to other groups when they reach puberty. This eliminates the chance of incest and increases genetic diversity. However, the wild bonobo population is so fragmented now in the Congo, with small groups living in isolated pockets, that the sustainability of the species is severely threatened. It will be critical for us to establish protected areas and corridors to provide for genetic viability of the species. However, bonobos share a human landscape, and our work with indigenous Congolese people is an important aspect of bonobo conservation. Learn about BCI's programs to protect bonobos.

"Make Love, Not War"

Bonobos seem to ascribe to the 1960s hippie credo, "make love, not war." They make a lot of love, and do so in every conceivable fashion. Beyond that, they are very loving too, showing care and compassion for each other in many ways. Sex in bonobo society transcends reproduction, as it does in humans. It serves as a way of bonding, exchanging energy and sharing pleasure.

Bonobos have been described as "pansexual" by psychologist Frans de Waal. Sex permeates the fabric of bonobo society, weaving through all aspects of daily life. It serves an important function in keeping the society together, maintaining peaceful, cooperative relations. Besides heterosexual contact, both male and female bonobos engage in same-sex encounters, and even group sex occurs. Female-female contact, or "GG-rubbing," is actually the most common. Unlike other apes, bonobos frequently copulate face-to-face, looking into each others eyes. When bonobo groups meet in the forest, they greet each other, bond sexually, and share food instead of fighting. Likewise, almost any conflict between bonobos is eased by sexual activity, grooming, or sharing food.
Like humans, bonobo females are sexually receptive throughout most of their estrus cycle. Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), on the other hand, only mate during the few days when a female is fertile. Generally, the ranking males in chimp society "get the girls." Male chimps make macho displays to impress females and can be quite vehement in their demands. Consequently, chimp females do not have much control over who they mate with. Bonobo males tend to be a bit more polite. They ask first, by displaying themselves in a persuasive but non-aggressive manner, offering food or making other propositions - and bonobo females have the right to refuse.
The sexual aspect of bonobo behavior is best understood in the context of bonobo culture. Sex does not necessarily mean the same thing to a bonobo that it does to a human. However, it raises compelling questions about the roots of human nature, and is particularly striking in contrast to chimpanzee society. Scholars continue to study this unique phenomenon and debate its implications.

Swingin' in the Trees ... Singin' in the Breeze

What's it like to come upon a group of bonobos in the forest? First of all, you'd better look up! Bonobos spend a lot of time high in the rainforest canopy. These acrobatic apes move through the trees swiftly and gracefully, maneuvering through the forest to forage on fruit and other foods. They also travel on the ground, often single file along their own sort of trail system. They tend to like swampy areas, where sometimes they dig for grubs or small crustaceons. Bonobos have complex mind maps of the forest and coordinate travel through vocalizations and other forms of communication people do not yet understand.
Bonobos live in groups of up to 100, breaking up into foraging groups by day and gathering to nest at night, in a fission-fusion modality. When bonobos gather in the trees to make their night nests, they fill the twilight with a symphony of soprano squeals. Their high-pitched vocalizations sound like a flock of exotic birds, compared to the more gutteral hoots of chimpanzees.
Bonobos eat a variety of foods, including fruits, nuts, seeds, sprouts, vegetation, and mushrooms. They eat various parts of plants, including the leaves, flowers, bark, stems, pith, and roots. They also eat small mammals, insect larvae, earthworms, honey, eggs, and soil. Unlike chimpanzees who form hunting parties to capture monkeys, bonobos do not aggressively hunt mammals. On rare occasions, they have been observed to capture duikers (small antelope) or flying squirrels, but this seems to be circumstantial.

Bonobos do forage for "mbindjos," or caterpillars, the larvae of various butterfly species. Mbindjos are also collected and eaten by local villagers who share the forest with bonobos. In fact, indigenous people of the Congo Basin and bonobos eat many of the same foods.

Life Stage Age (years)
Nursing Period 0-5
First Genital swelling 7
Begins to wander between groups 8
Settles into new group 9-13
Menarche and first-sized swelling 10
Growth-cessation 14-16
First offspring 13-15
Cessation of ovulation 40
Longevity 50-55
Number of offspring possible in lifetime: 5-6

Information Credit Here, photos and to donate to the BCI

Bonobos are more likely to make eye contact if there was no third individual observing

COLLABORATORS:
Kate Branson, Aista Sobouti, Alison Cook, Cindy Lawrence
RESEARCH SITE:
San Diego Zoo
ABSTRACT:
This study used videotape of naturally-occurring behavior in a triad of adolescent bonobos (2 females and 1 male) on exhibit at the San Diego Zoo. Segments in which all three animals were clearly visible were analyzed, frame-by-frame, for events that began with one animal turning its head toward another. The relative head position of all animals was then tracked until at least one subsequent head turn occurred. Head position for each animal toward every other was scored (1-9) according to the access to eye contact that that head position afforded. These scores were also summed across dyads, and across the triad as a whole, to determine if pairwise or triadic states of access were predictive of subsequent head turns.

We scored each animal's orientation to each other animal, on a scale of 1-9, per the access to eye contact the orientation afforded.

 
 
 
 
 


Results of interest include the significant tendency, in events in which the initial head turn brought about a very high level of triadic access, for one of the triad to effect an extremely rapid (Mean = 256 ms) shift away from the others. Furthermore, the triadic sum predicted this outcome better than the dyadic or individual access scores did. Similarly, in randomly sampled events (the first in each two-minute interval of video), the best predictor of whether an animal turned toward another and maintained that position, or turned away before any other head turn occurred, was not that individual's access, nor the access of the animal toward which it turned, but rather the access of the third party to that event. That is, if the third party was monitoring the event, the first animal was significantly more likely to turn away from the second than if the third party was not monitoring the event.

In this frame, the animal on the left has just turned her head toward the others, so that now all three bonobos have a high level of access to each other.

These and related results indicate that the animals in this triad were sensitive to one another's attentional states, and responded not just on the basis of individual tendencies or pairwise relationships, but in terms of the triadic field of attention they co-created.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The bonobos (left to right): Lolita, Congo and Lavern
DISCUSSION:
A variety of converging evidence indicates the importance to primates of detecting and responding to the head orientation of conspecifics. From the field, researchers have described primates' use of threatening stares, the recruitment of eye contact as a prelude to collaborative interactions, and "gaze avoidance" as a means of rejecting a solicitation or otherwise precluding engagement. In the lab, researchers have documented that eye contact elicits strong physiological responses (such as increased heart-rate and pupil dilation), that eyes are the feature of the face most often examined by primate subjects and that specialized cells in the cerebral cortex differentially respond to head orientation and/or gaze directed at, versus from, the subject.

Cells in monkey cortex respond differentially to the sight of faces at different orientations

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

From Gross, Desimore, Albright & Schwartz (1985)

Researchers interested in the evolution of cognition in primates have argued that the evolution of social intelligence in primates may be related to the occurrence of triadic (or polyadic) interactions. That is, such interactions are probably more cognitively demanding than are the more common dyadic ones. Animals that engage in only dyadic dominance interactions, for example, need only keep track their own relative position to each other animal in the group. In contrast, when coalitions and other polyadic negotiations are possible, an individual must know not only about its own relationships, but also about the relationships that exist between others.
Immediately following (within 3 frames of) the situation on the left, one of the animals in this triad turned away from the others. Such rapid adjustments were observed in 94% of such "high access" contexts.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
San Diego Zoological Society / CRES
Dept of Cognitive Science, UCSD
Dept of Anthropology, UCSD
Christine M. Johnson
Story credit Here

Bonobos are more prolific kissers than many human beings

There’s no such thing as a simple kiss.
The strange ritual between two sets of pursed lips has more meanings than a Pynchon novel and is worth more than a thousand words.

The passionate embrace of a sailor and nurse in Times Square, Madonna and Britney’s mouth-to-mouth moment, the betrayal kiss between Judas and Jesus — no matter how different — all fall under the definition of “kiss.” They can be deadly (the mobster kiss), creepy (Al and Tipper Gore at the 2000 Democratic National Convention), or life-giving (Snow White and her prince).

Anthropologists estimate that kissing is practiced by more than 90% of cultures in the world. Sure, it feels nice when it’s right, but what is so important about the sharing of saliva? Scientist Sheril Kirshenbaum sets out to answer the question in her pithy new book “The Science of Kissing.”

Kirshenbaum shows us that the famous words of Don Juan, “each kiss a heart-quake,” is far more accurate than intended — as she traces kissing from its infancy in ancient humans to its complex anatomy and its importance in the development of the human species.

Even animals do it

Kissing, broadly defined as the coming together of two individuals in exchange of sensory information, is not limited to human beings. Many kinds of animals neck, too.

The sex-crazed bonobo apes from the Congo — who often use sex to resolve conflicts rather than aggression — are more prolific kissers than many human beings. In fact, one scientist witnessed bonobos nibbling and kissing each other for 12 minutes straight. They kiss for reassurance, out of excitement or fear, and to firm-up relationships with others.

Other chimpanzees also kiss without tongue, which the author says is more akin to a human hug than a passionate make-out session.

Moose and squirrels brush noses, moles rub snouts and turtles tap heads. Manatees nibble their partners, and giraffes intertwine their necks. One fish from Thailand, called the kissing gourami, touches its lips with others, during feeding or fighting, or as a sign of courtship.

Strangely enough, snails “may be the most sensual critters of all, locking together while massaging each other all over.”
These “kisses” might be for affection, greeting, feeding or a bond between mother and offspring. And although the author warns against anthropomorphizing these critters, it sounds a lot like what humans do.
Man’s first kisses

Like many animals, ancient man’s first kisses weren’t relegated to the lips. In fact, Kirshenbaum theorizes that our earliest kisses were delivered via the nose, the kind of “nuzzle-sniff” popular in Eskimo culture. Nose kisses were used to “recognize and reconnect with relatives and friends and perhaps even provide clues about a person’s health,” she writes.

So when did the kiss move from the nose to the mouth? Well, it seems to be somewhat hardwired, she writes. Human mouths are more “everted,” meaning they stick out further than our ape ancestors. Our red lips are actually the most exposed erogenous zone on our body. But this didn’t happen overnight.

Our ancestors evolved a superior ability to detect the color red, which would give them an advantage in finding ripe fruits when on the lookout for food. This “red equals reward” may have become ingrained, making men more interested in women with redder lips, which would signify a more youthful and fertile mate. Even current studies show that looking at red objects quickens the pulse and makes us feel excited. It’s no wonder women still turn to lipstick, which they have done since ancient Egypt, when women used dyes and strong wines to dye their pouts.

The history of the kiss Here

Baby Bonobo, Teco, has a baby sitter, his dad

I love the Great Ape Trust. This is one of few organizations that I believe in.

Story-
If Christmas is about anything, it’s about the beauty of kids, from the poignancy of Bethlehem to the wonder of the tree.

In this blog, my last in a series of four (here, here, and here), I’ll offer some thoughts on a beautiful kid called Teco.

Teco is a 6-month-old bonobo chimpanzee, already crawling and walking way more adeptly than a human 6-month-old, exploring a culture created by both humans and bonobos at the Great Ape Trust.

Teco was born lacking a cling reflex, preventing him from being transported on the fur of his mother Elikya. She tried carrying him in her arms but it was burdensome, and after two months of effort, she made it clear to Sue Savage-Rumbaugh, whom she’s known from birth, that Sue needed to take over.

Hanging out with Sue and Teco at the Great Ape Trust.

Ursula Goodenough/NPR Hanging out with Sue and Teco at the Great Ape Trust.

I’ll tell two brief Teco stories this morning, one about how Sue is raising him, and the other about how his father, Kanzi, is interfacing with him.

Sitting on the floor with Teco and Sue last week was just like the hundreds of times I’ve sat on the floor with a mom and her kid, except that this kid had splendid fur. His room is festooned with the kind of colorful “enrichment” stuff you’d buy at Toys 'R' Us. The futon they sleep on is in one corner. A pacifier and fresh diapers lie in readiness.
Teco has an iPad loaded with lots of kid apps — alphabets, nursery songs, names of animals — and he spends hours swatting at it and getting new things to happen. New objects first go straight into his mouth, then get pulled and twisted around in his deft fingers, his eyes intently focused on yet another novelty. And then lots of the time he’s just curled up in Sue’s lap, being hugged, kissed and tickled.

A new keyboard version of a lexigram has been installed on the wall in Teco’s room that allows for the immediate addition of new words and has a drag-and- select interface like the iPad. He’s still too little to use it, but Sue is already using it in his presence – touching symbols and saying words — to familiarize him with the modus operandi. The Trust scientists have come to understand that bonobo language-learning happens like human language-learning: Adults use language-based words in speaking to youngsters, and youngsters come to understand their meaning.

The difference between this modus and training your dog to roll over when you say “roll over” is that the bonobo youngsters are also familiarized with symbols that denote particular words, and they come to understand that they can touch particular symbols on a lexigram when they want to use those words. That is, they are able to translate their own mental experience into symbols/words that denote their mental experience. Once that key insight is grasped, then it’s a short step to combine words and to understand combined words, a.k.a sentences.

And the language game is on.

Teco’s cognitive progression will obviously be of keen interest to his Trust caregivers, just as a child’s cognition is of keen interest to family members. But his caregivers are also keenly interested that he be fully immersed in his bonobo context, which brings me to my second story.

When Teco was an infant, he was happy to be passed around and inspected and groomed by all the adult bonobos in the group, much like a human infant being handed around at a family gathering. An example of this is shown in an extraordinary video of Teco with his uncle Nyota.

But of late, something has “kicked in” that Sue calls Teco’s sense of free will. He’s now circumspect with unfamiliar humans and bonobos alike, taking time to warm up to them. He’s “his own little person,” a transformation that typically occurs in human babies at about 9-10 months and occurs in baby bonobos in the context of both their genetic endowment and the Pan/Homo cultural ambience at the Trust.

Kanzi’s understanding of this transformation has been recorded by Sue in a video — soon to be posted on the Trust website — that I’ll try to describe.

Teco comes into a room where Kanzi and Sue are sitting. Sue first asks Kanzi to take off Teco’s diaper and he does so deftly, pulling on one plastic strip and then the other. Then, instead of picking Teco up as he would have done pre-free-will, Kanzi moves into a corner, sits down, and watches while the baby scampers about. Whenever Teco comes near, Kanzi reaches out and gently strokes him. He then tries to engage the baby in little-kid-style games: he strums his fingers on the floor, looking up hopefully to see if that draws attention; when it doesn’t, he scoots along the floor pushing a large sheet of paper and Teco runs after it; he then does the same thing with a box. Throughout the clip, Kanzi evinces the heart-warming interest of a new Dad — eager to be accepted, eager for relationship, yet respectful of his son’s space and personhood.

Does Kanzi know that Teco is his son? Does Teco think that Sue is his mother? We may never know the answers to these interesting questions that we know how to ask. But meanwhile, what’s important right now is that out on the great plains of Iowa this Christmas, a very small bonobo is being enfolded in a most extraordinary convergence of love and curiosity from members of his own species and of his adopted species. A bit of a miracle I would say.

Story Credit here and a must see video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCKX5GaOfLo&feature=player_embedded

Can We Stop The Bushmmeat Trade In Congo in Regards To Apes?

Is it possible to stop Congo’s massive commercial hunting before the forests are empty of animals? Maybe, and maybe it is easier than we thought.

Here is the story:

What we saw 2007 – early 2009:

During 2007 and 2008, the TL2 project inventoried intact forest — with low, or no human population — between the Tshuapa and the Lualaba Rivers. This was mainly the Lomami River basin. We were looking for bonobo, the great ape that is only in the Congo basin. What we found was “empty” forest in areas where bonobo had previously been reported. Dense bonobo populations remained only in the south, including areas where they had not been reported earlier.

There is still a lot of forest in central Congo but much has been riddled by small settlements or depleted of game by commercial hunting.

Hunting had emptied the forests to the north and west. Even further south we found that commercial hunting had moved into the last bonobo forests. We saw evidence of it everywhere. Hunting snares on the forest floor, meat drying on racks in hunting camps, bicycles loaded with meat headed towards Kindu. We even saw bonbo killed and sold as bushmeat. The southern part of our area was the most intensively hunted. It fed the busmeat markets of Kindu.

We had to understand the bushmeat trade before we could try to stop it. We have now finished a preliminary report about bushmeat in the southern TL2 (monitoring report_ nov09) which I summarize below. The actors in the bushmeat trade are :

Hunters:
Of 31 hunters “interviewed” along forest paths, more than half of them (16) were foreigners (= not the local ethnic group that “owns” the forest). Most were coming from the Province of Kasai Oriental where forests are hunted-out. Not one of the 31 was hunting for his family; they were all commercial hunters. About ¼ were using shot guns and the others were using metal and nylon snares.

Bushmeat transporters:
Monitoring bushmeat transported from the TL2 forest towards Kindu is relatively easy because all transporters have to cross the Kasuku River by dugout , and there are only three places where that is possible. As all bushmeat is carried in backpacks or bicycle-packs, transporters are easy to approach as they wait for the dugout. Who are these transporters? Rarely the hunters themselves, much more frequently these are people who buy their loads from one or several hunters in villages around the forest; these transporters are middlemen who usually sell again to the vendors in Kindu’s various markets.

Nearly 400 bushmeat transporters were contacted; 85% of the transport was by bicycle and the average load weighed 54 kilograms (119 lbs). We estimate over 30 metric tons a month of bushmeat entered Kindu from the TL2 landscape. It is likely that this makes up at least 75% of the bushmeat currently sold in Kindu (population of 135,500). In terms of animals killed: 6,300 animals a month were brought into Kindu from the TL2 forests. Of these, approximately 3,350 monkeys, 2,250 antelope and 19 (!) bonobos. If maintained, this rate would decimate the TL2 bonobos. Extrapolating to annual TL2 bushmeat on the Kindu market: 76,000 animals of which 227 are bonobos.

Market Vendors:
Whereas 91 percent of bushmeat transporting is done by men, the market vendors of bushmeat are almost all women. Of 31 market women interviewed, 11 had sold bonobo bushmeat in the last six months. These vendors are a snapshot of “making it” as a woman in DRCongo. All the vendors had children; twenty (65%) were female heads of households being widowed, unmarried or living without spouse. None of the vendors had finished high school and eight of 31 were totally unschooled.

The bushmeat market vendors and final buyers.

The Profit of the bushmeat trade:
A full bushmeat bicycle load entering Kindu is worth about 147 US dollars on retail market. Most bicycle transporters who buy from the hunter and resell in Kindu can expect to make a clear profit of over 50 dollars from a full load of meat. They may have spent as little as two weeks getting it, including bicycling to point of purchase, waiting for a full meat load, and bicycling back. The mark-up from hunter to final retail sale is on the order of 300 to 330 percent. An overall estimate gives an annual retail market value of over 980,000 US dollars for bushmeat from TL2 in Kindu.

Given this profit how can the bushmeat chain be dismantled?

We made our first attempts to “break the chain” in early 2009:

What controls could we lobby for as a small foreign-funded project?
Scouring a collection of Congolese environmental law, one decree seemed obvious: the one concerning protected species. Nationally it was against the law to kill bonobo. In Maniema no one seemed to know about it (even the governor later told us he ate bonobo). We started our campaign with meetings, brochures and radio.

Through a combination of good luck and good people we were able to push a lot farther than we had thought possible. Provincial and traditional authorities participated. There was excellent collaboration from the governor to village leaders. The mayor of Kindu campaigned, the provincial minister of the environment campaigned, the chefitaine of the Bangengele campaigned and so did the deputies of Kailo and many more.

The governor declared a three month no-hunting season from July through September 2009 – there was at least 90% compliance. The bushmeat market in Kindu closed down and bicycles started transporting goats and chickens rather than bushmeat.

In August 2009, this bicycle transporter headed for Kindu has a goat, chickens and rice, all on two wheels.

Once the hunting season came to an end, the authorities began to campaign for a protected area in the most sensitive bonobo forest. And so far they have truly done so with enthusiasm.

There are three reasons that I can think of that led people to support the conservation message:
In villages – villagers knew that their animal populations were decreasing as they had to walk farther and farther to reach good hunting ground.
In villages – villagers also realized other people were reaping benefits from hunting “their” animals, but their own problems (no schools, no health care) were not improving.
In Kindu, – the politicians decided a national park might bring outside money to what was otherwise an extremely impoverished region.

What is next?
This is a short, hopeful chronology, but the antecedents aren’t promising. The bonobo forest was emptied to the north; the bonobo forest was emptied to the west. Maybe this chronology can be hopeful only because it is so short. –?

A word of caution:
There was one critical element missing during the closed hunting season – that was enforcement. People stopped transporting bushmeat because of the publicity and monitoring, but a few hunters –mostly foreign –continued, and stocked their meat. They weren’t punished. In fact, there is no real enforcement capacity. That does not bode well for the next no-hunting season.

How to succeed?
The strong collaboration that pushed the no-hunting season, publicized protected species, and cleared the forests – at least briefly – of snares and cartridges must persist. With that support, bonobos, too, can persist. We must maintain and strengthen this alliance of authorities, villagers and our TL2 project in order to assure creation of a protected area in the bonobo forest where bonobos can continue to live in all the raucous din of a forest alive with animals.

This is how the bushmeat chain looks through photos.

Source

Our Long Lost Cousins, The Bonobos

Imagine a relative who thinks sex is like a handshake. Who organises orgies with the neighbours, doesn’t mind if their partner sleeps around, and firmly believes females should be in charge of everything. Imagine there was a whole tribe of these relatives – crazy yes? But definitely a lot of fun.

Bonobo share 98.7% of our DNA, equal to our more famous cousins, chimpanzees. But unlike chimps, we know hardly anything about them.

Lola ya Bonobo is the only bonobo sanctuary in the world. All the bonobos are orphans, their parents killed for the bushmeat trade. At Lola, the bonobos live in a 30 hectare forest, are visited by over 15,000 Congolese school children every year, and will soon be released into the wild.

Follow the lives of our bonobos, and to donate, visit

Source

Bonobo Fact Sheet

Bonobo
Pan paniscus

TAXONOMY

Suborder: Haplorrhini
Infraorder: Simiiformes
Superfamily: Hominoidea
Family: Hominidae
Genus: Pan
Species: P. paniscus

Other names: bonobo chimpanzee, gracile ape, lesser chimpanzee, or pygmy chimpanzee; chimpanzeé nain or chimpanzeé pygmée (French); chimpancé pigmeo (Spanish); bonobo or dvärgschimpans (Swedish)

The name bonobo is meaningless; it is probably derived from a misspelling on a shipping crate going to Bolobo, Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo) (de Waal 1997).

MORPHOLOGY

Bonobos are sometimes called pygmy chimpanzees even though they are about the same size as chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Overall, they have a more gracile, or slender, build than chimpanzees. They exhibit moderate sexual dimorphism with adult males weighing about 39 kg (86.0 lb) and, on average, measuring 730 to 830 mm (2.40 to 2.72 ft) tall while adult females weigh about 31 kg (68.3 lb) and are about 700 to 760 mm (2.3 to 2.49 ft) tall (Rowe 1996).

Click on Photograph for Image Gallery

Bonobos have black hair and black faces from birth. The hair on their head looks as if it is parted and they do not tend to go bald with age as is seen in chimpanzees. Bonobos are also born with a white rump tuft (Rowe 1996; de Waal 1997).

Locomotion patterns in bonobos include quadrupedal knuckle walking, modified brachiation and some bipedalism (Rowe 1996). Bonobos show a greater predisposition for bipedal gait than other apes because of a more centrally positioned foramen magnum, longer thigh bones, longer feet, and differential distribution of body weight (Myers Thompson 2002).

The average lifespan of bonobos is 40 years (Rowe 1996).

RANGE

P. paniscus range (in red)

Bonobos are confined to a 200,000 km² (77,220 mi²) area in central Africa in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This area, roughly the size of Great Britain, in the central basin of the DRC, contains two river systems that converge to define the extent of bonobo distribution: the Congo-Zaire-Walaba River and the Kwa-Kasai-Sankuru River (Kortlandt 1995). These rivers serve as an effective geographical barrier for the apes as they are not known to swim (though they have been seen wading into waist-deep water) (Kortlandt 1995; Myers Thompson 2002).

Estimates of wild populations are few and varied, with numbers as low as 5,400 up to 100,000 individuals (Kortlandt 1995; Thompson-Handler et al. 1995). These numbers may be considered overly optimistic, though, and the true population size is unknown (Coxe et al. 2000). There are about 150 individuals in captivity (ISIS.org).

Most fieldwork has been conducted in two sites, Lomako and Wamba, but other research sites include Lilungu (Ikela), Yalosidi, Yasa, and Tumba. The bonobos at the Wamba study site have been observed since 1974 and are provisioned with food such as sugarcane (de Waal 1997).

HABITAT

Bonobos exploit the swampy rainforest south of the Zaire River. They forage in swamp meadows on a thin underlying peat layer. The semideciduous trees that this area supports produce fleshy fruits adapted to mammal dispersion. These trees are part of a secondary forest ecosystem and are generally in intermediate and older stages of development. These forests are also known as subclimax forests (Kortlandt 1995). At one of the field sites, Lukuru, there is an absence of swamp vegetation and bonobos utilize the mosaic of dry forest and savanna habitats (Myers Thompson 2002).

The average monthly air temperature in this region is between 20° to 30° C (68° to 86° F). The annual rainfall in this area is between 1600 and 2000 mm (5.25 and 6.56 ft) (Kano 1992).

ECOLOGY

The population density of bonobos is hard to estimate, but some studies have put it at 0.4 individuals per km² (.249 per mi²) (Kano 1992; Kortlandt 1995). Even in the most densely populated areas, these apes have a patchy distribution.

Their diet consists mainly of plant products including fruit, seeds, sprouts, leaves, flowers, bark, stems, pith, roots, and mushrooms. Though the majority of their diet is fruit (57%), bonobos are also known to consume small mammals, insect larvae, earthworms, honey, eggs, and soil (Kano 1992; Bermejo et al. 1994). Unlike chimpanzees, bonobos do not actively hunt mammalian prey but feed on it opportunistically (White 1996). At one study site, bonobos have been observed washing off their food before eating (Bermejo et al. 1994).

Daily activities can be partitioned into six categories: feeding in trees, rest, travel, foraging, nest-building, and group excitement. These daily activities are generally in a cycle of resting (43% of the day), traveling (13%), foraging (20%), and feeding (20%). The remaining time is spent doing other activities. Bonobos forage for principal food items between 25 and 40 m (82 and 131 ft) above the ground. Though most primary food sources are found at this height, they will not ingest food found at this height if there is not a secure substrate (Kano 1992). Their average daily travel distance is 2.0 km (1.24 mi) (Kano 1992). Because of the relative richness of their habitat and availability of food sources, there is little constraint on bonobo group size. The result is a decrease in intraspecific feeding competition and heightened sociality, especially between females (Blount 1990).

Content last modified: June 7, 2005

Written by Kristina Cawthon Lang. Reviewed by Frans de Waal.

Cite this page as:
Cawthon Lang KA. 2005 June 7. Primate Factsheets: Bonobo (Pan paniscus) Taxonomy, Morphology, & Ecology . . Accessed 2009 August 27.

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