Mouginot, a biological anthropologist at Boston University, hadn’t expected such behavior from bonobos, which, unlike chimps, have a reputation for making love, not war.īut research by Mouginot and colleagues, published today in Current Biology, shows male bonobos often do engage in aggressive behavior-even more so than male chimps.

The terrified cries of the fleeing male suggested this was no friendly game of tag. Suddenly, two male bonobos-close relatives of chimpanzees-came hurtling out of the darkness, one rushing through the trees, the other giving chase. The Congolese nonprofit Les Amis de Bonobo un Congo, for instance, releases orphaned and trafficked bonobos back into the wild.It was 5 a.m., and Maud Mouginot was waiting for the Sun to rise over the Kokolopori Bonobo Reserve. However, there are several efforts underway to save the species. Though it’s illegal to hunt or capture bonobos, the apes are also poached as bushmeat, another factor in their decline. War and civil unrest in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the 1990s and 2000s, logging, and agriculture have destroyed and fragmented much of the bonobo’s habitat. There are captive bonobos living in zoos and other facilities worldwide. ( Learn how bonobo 'baby talk' may have takeaways for human language.) Conservation statusĪn endangered species, bonobos likely number between 10,000 and 20,000 in the wild. Sons stay with their mothers their whole lives-maintaining close, special bonds-while bonobo daughters leave to join another troop, possibly trying out a few different groups before finding one to stay with.įemales take on most of the parenting duties, but males contribute to the troop in general by providing food and protection, particularly the young. Males reach puberty at about eight years old and females around five years old. Reproductionĭespite their frequent sexual activity, bonobos have about the same reproductive rate as chimpanzees, giving birth about every five years.įemales usually have their first offspring when they are around 14 years old, after a gestation period of about eight months.Ī study on captive bonobo births described them as “social” events, with other females protecting and helping the mother-to-be through the birthing process like midwives-the only species aside from humans known to assist in births.īonobos care for their young until they’re about four years old.

In one incident, three high-ranking females attacked four unruly males, biting part of the toe off the alpha male, who came slinking back to the family three weeks later. (Read more about how bonobos are kind to strangers.)Įven so, female bonobos can be aggressive if needed. They’re also willing to share food, not only with friends, but with bonobos they don’t know. The older females in the group usually decide when and which way they will travel.īonobos are famous for their frequent use of copulation to smooth over disagreements and calm anxious family members. Bonobos also sleep aloft large groups, making nighttime nests in the crooks of tree limbs.Īlso like chimps, bonobos live in fission-fusion societies, meaning that smaller “parties” will split off from the main troop to forage elsewhere for the day, so the composition of groups often changes. Their wide-ranging diet includes fruits, insects, fish, and small mammals, including monkeys, hyrax, and small antelope.īonobos forage both on the ground-for earthworms and other invertebrates-and in the forest canopy, where they swing through the trees in search of fruit. Western scientists often called them the “pygmy chimp” until 1929, when bonobos were officially recognized as a separate species.īonobos are roughly the same size as chimps, but with lither bodies smaller, more rounded shoulders longer legs and a propensity to walk upright. Yet these primates, native only to Democratic Republic of the Congo, are often overshadowed by their more well-known chimp cousins. The bonobo is a species of great ape that shares nearly 99 percent of our DNA, just like chimpanzees. Current Population Trend: Decreasing What is a bonobo?

Bonobo chimps