Bonobo/Pan paniscus Schwarz:
Also called the Dwarf Chimpanzee, Bonobos are arguably the most human like animal. Yet there are many misconceptions about these creatures that have been said to be on par with humans in the past. For many years, bonobos were safe because of wide-spread taboos. Local people viewed bonobos and man as "brothers of long ago" and local legends protected them. In these legends, bonobos and man lived side by side until man invented fire.

Size:The size of Bonobos may range from 7 to 83cm.

Weight: Males are usually heavier than females with a weight of 37 to 61kg while females are usually 27 to 38kg.

Distribution: Bonobos are only found in the central Zaire Basin, mostly in primary and secondary forests, although seasonally inundated swamp forest is also suitable.

Appearance: The Bonobo differs from the Chimpanzee in body proportions. Bonobos are more gracile in build, with a smaller, rounder skull, and a flatter face with less-prominent brow ridges.

The young are born with a black face and hands, and small ears that are hidden behind distinctive side whiskers. As adults, the Bonobo retains a prominent tail tuft that Chimpanzees have only as juveniles.

Behavior: Bonobos like humans, are a diurnal and a semi-terrestrial species and often live and travel in large groups, sometimes up to 100 individuals. How do they solve problems among such a large group? Thus it has dawned on scientists that Bonobos seem to have developed rules to deal with such problems and they seem to have a very complex communication system, that many scientists suspect may be something like language, rather than only emotional expressions.

Sleeping nests are built in trees. Bonobos frequently stand upright unlike Common Chimpanzees and also have a higher propensity to make and use tools. Bonobos specialise in social, sexual and possibly even linguistic communication.

Actually it is no suprise that they share so many similarities to humans as they share about 99% of our genetic heritage, much or our anatomy and apparently most, and maybe all, of our emotions.

Diet: Bonobos are omnivores and although fruit comprises most of their diet, other vegetable matter and invertebrates are also taken. Of the vertebrates eaten are flying squirrels and the young of forest duikers. The bonobo will also consume termite clay for essential minerals. When fruit becomes scarce during the dry season the bonobo will consume more shoots, pith, herbs, and the stems of ground plants. But unlike Chimpanzees, they have rarely been seen actively hunting for meat.

Lifespan: Unknown. Probably similar to that for the Common Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes).

Reproduction: Like humans, female Bonobos become sexually mature at thirteen years of age. The gestation period for Bonobos is thought to be between 220 and 230 days.

Bonobos normally give birth to single young, with five year intervals between each. Infants are nursed until they are four years old. In contrast to the Chimpanzee, male offspring will stay with the mother's group for life, while females leave the maternal group for another band at maturity.

Why is it endangered:

There are many reasons to the decline in populations, but all of them are directly connected with us, humans.

Increasing human population pressures forced Bonobos to retreat into remote forest areas since the 1970s. Moreover, a few years ago, word begun to spread in Kinshasa and Kisangani and other large cities, that the taboos against hunting and eating our "brothers," bonobos and other apes, are "old legends" should be forgotten. The Congolese economy has also collapsed and Congolese have recently began to hunt anything that will bring a few pennies on the smoked meat market. Most hunters do not kill apes for themselves, but rather to sell as meat to those who live in cities.

Many Bonobos are also captured as pets. Sometimes infants are taken as pets, in hopes that they can be sold, because they are too small to provide much meat. The pet trade has been severely curtailed by international efforts to stop the importation of primates as pets though and so infants rarely bring much money to the hunter. More often now, infants become a plaything for local children, who, knowing no better, tease them till they die of starvation.

Conservation: It has been to estimate the numbers of Bonobos left, and numbers range from 13,000 to 200,000.

They have been mostly studied at two sites, the Lomako forest and Wamba. At Wamba, things are better for the animals, as they are still protected by old traditions, but for how long is a problem. A Bonobo Protection and Conservation Fund has also been established to contribute to the protection and further study of this species. Bonobos have been protected by national law, but with little enforcement, numbers are still decreasing.