Bonobos A to Z
Bonobos A to Z: What is a bonobo ape?
Bonobos are great apes, along with chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans, and humans. They are only found in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where they live in the Congo Basin rainforest - the second largest rainforest on the planet.
Humans are more closely related to bonobos (and chimpanzees) than to any other animals alive today. We share 98.7% of our DNA with bonobos!
Bonobos are peaceful, cooperative, and welcoming to newcomers. Bonobos are also endangered and could go extinct in our lifetime. We're on a mission to stop that.
How many Bonobos are left?
About 20,000 to 50,000 bonobos are believed to remain in the wild, however, scientists have low confidence in this estimate. Studying bonobos is difficult, not only because they live in hard-to-reach swamp forests, but also because political unrest and wars have long hindered scientific research.
Where do Bonobos live?
Bonobos are found in only one country in the world, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and only south of the Congo River. They inhabit seasonally swampy forests and spend a lot of time in the tree canopy. Their limited geographic range is part of what makes bonobo apes so vulnerable to extinction.
Bonobo troops are female-led
Bonobos are one of relatively few animals that is matriarchal, meaning females lead their social groups. Meanwhile, among chimpanzees, the lowest-status male ranks higher than the highest-status female.
Chimpanzee males are known engage in violent fights over status, kill infants, rape and beat females, and even murder other chimpanzees, bonobos are known for being non-violent by comparison. Although bonobos behave aggressively at times, their conflicts do not become fatal. Among bonobos, there is no infanticide.
Female bonobos can reject suitors without fearing for their lives. They wield power not through any size advantage over males, but by forming power-sharing coalitions and banding together to keep troublesome, aggressive behaviors in check.
The bonobo motto: 'Make love, not war.'
The bonobo motto could be “make love, not war.” Brief, frequent sexual contact appears to be a key method for diffusing tension and keeping peace in their groups. This includes play, hugs, kisses, and genital contact regardless of gender.
Most of this “sociosexual behavior” is non-reproductive. In fact, bonobos bear one child every four to five years. Females give birth for the first time at age 13 to 15; males and females reach full size at about age 16. A bonobo weighs 2-3 pounds at birth and is carried around by its mother for the first 5-6 years, first held on the front and later, when bigger, on her back.
What's the difference between a Bonobo and a Chimpanzee?
The first thing many people want to know is, "What’s the difference between a bonobo and a chimpanzee?" It’s easy to be confused because bonobos and chimpanzees share 99.6% of their DNA and are visually similar.
However, that 0.4% difference is striking, when you look a little closer. Bonobos and chimpanzees are different species of ape, and there are several important physical differences you can use to tell them apart.
Physical Differences between Bonobos and Chimpanzees
Bonobos are leaner than Chimpanzees. Bonobos tend to be leaner than chimpanzees. On average, female bonobos weigh about 74 pounds, while female chimpanzees weigh 93 pounds. Male bonobos can be 80 to 100 pounds, while male chimpanzees weigh in at around 132 pounds.
Bonobos are leaner than Chimpanzees. Bonobos tend to be leaner than chimpanzees. On average, female bonobos weigh about 74 pounds, while female chimpanzees weigh 93 pounds. Male bonobos can be 80 to 100 pounds, while male chimpanzees weigh in at around 132 pounds.
Bonobos have darker faces than Chimpanzees. Chimpanzee babies tend to have lighter colored skin on their face, ears, hands, and feet that tends to darken as they get older. However, bonobo babies tend to have darker skin from birth.
Adult bonobos have pink skin around their lips and eyes. Unlike chimps, they have black ears, longer head hair that parts in the middle of their head, and tufts of cheek hair.
Bonobos and Chimps walk differently. You also can distinguish the two species by the way they walk. Bonobos are more often bipedal, meaning they spend more time standing or walking on their two legs. Chimpanzees, on the other hand, are more likely to use all four limbs for support when they move on the ground - called quadrupedalism.
Bonobos and Chimps make different sounds. Bonobo vocalizations are typically more high-pitched than those of chimpanzees. While chimpanzees also make high-pitched calls, they tend to make hooting, grunting, and screaming sounds more often than bonobos.
Why are bonobos endangered? Because of us.
Poaching threatens bonobo survival. The Number 1 threat to bonobos is humans. Although killing, capturing, or eating bonobos is illegal, poaching is common. People hunt them for meat or alleged medicinal purposes, and baby bonobos become victims of the illegal international wildlife trade. Bonobos are classified as “endangered and declining” on the IUCN Red List. According to IUCN, even though most bonobos inhabit national parks and other protected areas, these areas lack resources and law enforcement is weak.
IUCN reported: “Commercial poachers, aided by military and local administrations, are active even in legally protected sites, such as Salonga National Park (SNP), Lomako-Yokokala Faunal Reserve, Tumba-Lediima Natural Reserve, Sankuru Natural Reserve, and the proposed Lomami National Park.” (Lomami National Park has since been established.)
Bonobo habitat is shrinking. Another major threat to bonobos is deforestation. Commercial agriculture, including palm oil, wipes out thousands of acres of forest while local residents clear forests for subsistence agriculture and cut trees for fuelwood. From 2015-2020, the collective impact of these activities put deforestation rates in DRC at 2.5 million acres per year.
The root causes of the pressures on DRC’s natural resources are poverty, population growth, a history of war and conflict, and unstable governance. When the bonobos’ conservation status is updated, it seems destined to move from “endangered” to “critically endangered.”
Our work to prevent bonobo extinction
Since 1993, Friends of Bonobos has been working to prevent bonobo extinction through a comprehensive, holistic, and multifaceted conservation strategy.
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Bonobo orphan rescue and protection in partnership with DR Congo authorities
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Sanctuary, rehabilitation, and rewilding for rescued bonobos
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Rainforest and biodiversity protection
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Socio-economic development projects benefiting Protected Area partner communities
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Conservation education programs in the capital city and in provinces within bonobo range