Lola Ya Bonobo
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| Bonobos do not kill each other. The females are in charge of the group and they seem to keep everyone's temper under control with sexual activity. It doesn't matter how old you are, or if you're male or female - if you're a bonobo, sex plays a big part in living together peacefully. |
Like chimpanzees, bonobos share 98.7% of our DNA. Chimpanzees and bonobos look very similar. But if you look closely, you'll see that bonobos are a little smaller, with pink lips, black faces, and a very attractive hairstyle with long black hair neatly parted in the middle. The first two toes of bonobos have a little bit of webbing. While chimpanzees have low, loud voices, bonobos are very high pitched. Also, bonobo mothers have breasts that look a lot like humans.
The best estimates of the number of bonobos left in the wild are somewhere between 5,000-50,000 - all of them live in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). With their whole population in a single country, bonobos still share all the problems of population fragmentation, habitat loss, and victimization due to the bushmeat trade practice with their African cousins.
Pet trade
Many bonobo infants are sold as pets, or for use in witchcraft. In 2003, Congo survived a decade long war that may have killed as many as four million people - more than any war since World War II. The instability of the Congo has made it almost impossible to study bonobos, find out where they are or how many are left. With peace newly returned, the next decade will be crucial in determining whether bonobos survive the next generation.
Reintroduction to the wild
On June 14 2009, for the first time, a group of orphan bonobos were returned to the wild. The release was conducted by Congolese organization Les Amis des Bonobos du Congo (Friends of Bonobos in Congo, ABC) which is supported by Friends of Bonobos, USA.
Click here to go to the website of Friends of Bonobos or to donate to thir efforts