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CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: Bonobos were the last ape to be discovered, in the nineteen twenties. And they may be the first to die out. Researchers believe fewer than seven thousand bonobos now live in the wild. Scientists and wildlife experts say these great apes provide important information about how humans developed.
As we noted earlier, bonobos look like chimpanzees, but they are a completely different species of primates. They are smaller than chimps, but what is really different about them is their behavior.
Chimps can be aggressive. They kill monkeys, and sometimes each other. But bonobos are peaceful. And they sometimes use sex to settle conflicts. Bonobos can have sex for reasons other than producing young. One researcher said bonobos use sex almost like humans use a handshake.
FAITH LAPIDUS: Male bonobos do not compete with each other and do not fight. And bonobos share food with one another throughout their lives. Chimpanzees usually stop doing that when they become adults.
Sally Coxe is the president of the Bonobo Conservation Initiative in Washington, DC. She says there are other differences between bonobos and chimps.
SALLY COXE: “Chimpanzees have a male-dominated society, whereas bonobos are matriarchal. The females are in charge. They have a more egalitarian and cooperative society than chimpanzees, and they are the only primate other than humans that has sex not just for procreation. So that’s earned them the moniker as the ‘make love not war’ apes, or the ‘hippie chimps’ as it were.”
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2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25