Our closest cousins, bonobos share They are about two-thirds the size of humans and are covered with dark hair. They are distinguished by their black faces, red lips, two or three webbed toes, a tail tuft, and parted long hair. Unlike their closest cousins, the common chimpanzees, they are not divided into subspecies. Unfortunately, only a small portion of their habitat is protected. Due to war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, illegal activities in the national parks have continued unchecked.
These great apes are also targeted by poachers because of their large size. The civil strife has also caused an increase of destruction and degradation to the bonobo habitat. Logging and subsistence agriculture are also a threat. Industrial extraction could also become a big risk to the species' future as Females become sexually mature after they are 12 years old and may give birth soon after.
However, females give birth to a single infant every five to six years, and they tend to nurse and carry their babies for five years. As a result, population growth cannot happen fast enough to counter high levels of poaching, habitat loss, and human encroachment. Bonobos live in the heart of the Congo, and the African Wildlife Foundation has set up a conservation plan to help stop the destruction of these gentle animals and their habitat.
This center supports wildlife surveys, training of Congolese researchers, and developing wildlife conservation plans. AWF has surveyed key areas of their habitat and polled local communities on how their needs could fit within AWF's conservation goals. By regularly monitoring the endangered species numbers and keeping track of where they are, conservationists can develop strategies to find economic alternatives for communities who hunt them for protein. They control their emotions during times of happiness, sorrow, excitement, or anger.
They also have human-like gestures when communicating without sound — they beg by stretching out an open hand and they whimper if they fail at something. Bonobos move quadrupedally in a special position called knuckle-walking.
In trees, they also tend to suspend themselves from their arms to move around easier. And on the ground, they can walk bipedally upright on its two feet as well, making it the most human-like of all apes. They live in a fission-fusion society. They can understand spoken words and reply to questions or ask for things by pointing to symbols. Bonobos even laugh when they are tickling each other or playing together, and they do other things that may remind you of some people you know!
Nests aren't just for the birds! Bonobos live in the rainforests of the Congo Basin in Africa. They prefer old-growth forests, with trees that bear fruit at different times throughout the year. They use leaves and twigs to build sturdy nests in the forks of trees each evening. By all sleeping in the same area, they can help each other look out for predators such as leopards and snakes, and this could also be a way to exchange information.
They can also keep track of each other. Adult bonobos sometimes share a nest, which is a unique behavior among the great apes. Bonobos are very comfortable in trees, swinging hand to hand through the branches, climbing up tree trunks, and leaping from one tree to another. Food for everyone. Can you imagine living in an all-you-can-eat salad bar? When it comes to finding food, bonobos have it pretty easy in their rain forest home.
They are nimble climbers and can swing from tree to tree searching for tasty fruit. Bonobos forage during the day for food both in trees and on the ground.
These clever apes have been observed sponging water out of tree trunks with moss, fashioning a rain hat out of leaves, and shaping a toothpick out of a twig.
Bonobos also spend hours hunting for earthworms to snack on—a rain forest candy to them! At the San Diego Zoo and the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, the bonobos eat a variety of fruits and veggies: bananas, apples, oranges, grapes, turnips, carrots, yams, spinach, and broccoli, as well as leafy clippings from ficus, honeysuckle, hibiscus, and sugarcane, and low-starch, high-fiber biscuits.
Try some of this! Bonobos have a wide range of vocal communications, and during times of stress they carry on rapid, ping-pong vocal exchanges. When a bonobo finds a good food source, he or she informs the others with a food call. Hand and even foot gestures and facial expressions also help bonobos communicate with each other. Making funny faces is a typical solitary game played by bonobo youngsters. In bonobo society, the females take charge and keep lifelong bonds with their sons.
Together, Luo and Iyondji comprise one of the largest blocks of bonobo habitat in the region. To support strategic conservation, AWF uses satellite imagery and GIS software to map and predict trends in habitat loss and fragmentation as well as human encroachment.
In a recent study, AWF ecologist David Williams integrated ground survey data with satellite imagery to identify forested areas likely to support other bonobo populations and to define linkages between major bonobo habitat blocks. AWF and partners will use this information to facilitate collaborative land-use planning sessions with communities and government entities such as the park service.
The result should be new or improved protected areas for bonobos along with zones for livelihood uses such as smallholder farming. With commercial logging and mining operations opening new roadways into the Congo Basin our multi-level approach ensures that economic development never comes at the expense of our cousin, the peaceable ape. Sign up for our newsletter. Stay Connected. The endangered bonobo: Africa's forgotten ape. About the Author. Tags: DRC.
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