A Several dozen large nests appear in the mist of the equatorial dawn, half hidden behind a tangle of vines and leaves. It is there, 12 meters above the ground, that bonobos sleep. But it rained all night, and the primates are in no hurry to get up. At 6:30 am the first head appears. He lets out a cry, a sharp bark, and another silhouette emerges from his cocoon of branches. And then another one. Five minutes later the whole group wakes up – yawns, stretches, straightens up. Their features are graceful, their limbs long and graceful, their build less stocky than that of chimpanzees, their closest relatives.
Bonobos live on the left bank of the Congo River, and chimpanzees settled along the right bank, expanding their range from here to Democratic Republic of the Congo to Tanzania in East Africa and Cameroon in the west. The two species diverged about 1-2 million years ago, when several groups of chimpanzees are believed to have crossed the river, probably during a period of exceptional drought.
These early migrants evolved differently: chimpanzees on the Right Bank created male-dominated societies, maintaining traditions of communal hunting and repeated conflicts with other groups. Among the bonobos, women are the dominant genderand their societies are less aggressive and more peaceful. When primatologists began studying them in the wild in the 1970s, they noticed that conflicts were often resolved by short sexual encounters. The press of that time dubbed them “hippie monkeys“
Scientific research on these primates first began in the area of the village of Wamba, north of the equator. Japanese primatologist Takayoshi Kano established the first observation post here in 1973. A second was opened the following year in Lomaco, further west, and several more followed. Today four sites remain active: Kokolopori, LuiKotale in Salonga National Park, Lomako-Yokokala and Wamba.
Over the past 50 years, research at these sites has revealed distinctive characteristics of bonobos: the dominant role of females in social organization; sex's function as a lubricant for daily interactions; their tolerant nature, heightened emotional sensitivity and willingness to cooperate, which reveal an amazing capacity for empathy – qualities that were once thought to be absent from the animal kingdom.
This year, a study conducted at the Kokolopori Community Reserve and published in the journal Science in April found that bonobos are capable of combining vocalizations in complex ways, much like the structuring of human language. “This discovery challenges what we thought we knew about animal communication and the supposed uniqueness of human language,” says American conservationist Sally Cox.
In 2002, Cox helped protect part of the Kokolopori Forest with bonobos. Saving The non-governmental organization Initiative (BCI), working with local organization Vie Sauvage to protect the last remaining bonobos here and study them in partnership with Harvard University.
Yet 20 years later, the protected area and the research it facilitates face the same obstacles: there are almost no roads or electricity, and the infrastructure is crumbling. The DRC remains one of the five poorest countries in the world, despite huge reserves of copper, cobalt, lithium and coltan. Three out of four Congolese live on less than $2.15 (£1.60) a day, according to the World Bank.
“Since the 1990s, the roads have not been maintained and vehicles can no longer use them,” says Mbangi Aringo, the most senior ranger in the Kokolopori forest. “If we want to sell our harvest, we will have to transport it on foot or by bicycle.” Now in his 50s, he says: “If BCI had not paid me a salary for observing bonobos, I would have become a farmer and struggled to feed my family, or I would have had to hunt in the forest. I would have had no choice.”
Against this backdrop, bonobos – one of the most emblematic species of the DRC – are increasingly under threat from human activities, especially poaching and deforestation, which destroy their habitat year after year. “We estimate the population to be less than 20,000 individuals,” says Takeshi Furuichi, Wamba's research director and professor at Kyoto University. “Perhaps even less than 15,000. They are now critically endangered.”
In an attempt to slow habitat erosion, the government and conservation groups are exploring the possibility of “bonobo credits.” Modeled after carbon credits, the program will provide infrastructure money to communities that will prevent bonobo hunting and preserve their forests.
Primatologist Geoff Dupin, director of the Antwerp Zoo Foundation in Kinshasa, has been involved in bonobo conservation and research for decades and is working in partnership with the Congolese Institute for Conservation of Nature on a pilot scheme. Their goal is to create a mechanism that gives local people a direct stake in protecting wildlife. “I wanted local people to get a real income from conservation,” he says.
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Clockwise from top left: A woman works in the field of the Yeti Village in the heart of the forest; a school supported by the Bonobo Conservation Initiative; Fidel Lokonga Itembe, a member of the local non-governmental organization Vie Sauvage, works as a head nurse at a local health center; Junior Baolimo and his wife Esther in their sewing workshop in Yeti.
“Village residents who commit to respecting bonobo habitat have begun to receive monetary compensation in the form of infrastructure funding. The goal is to create a harmonious balance involving civil society as a whole, as opposed to the old conservation model that sought to fence off areas of biodiversity when they were under threat. We want to bring people and nature closer together.”
At a roundtable discussion on bonobo credits, DRC President Felix Tshisekedi said this was an opportunity to flesh out the country's proposal to “create a species-specific biodiversity credit, especially for emblematic species of high value to humanity, such as bonobos.”
For those who work the land, protecting the last remaining bonobo habitats is critical. “They still have a lot to learn,” Cox says. “Their use of medicinal plants in the forest and what people could learn from them in that regard. And also their communication – verbal and non-verbal – and how they respond to human threats such as poaching.”
Furuichi agrees. “Until the 1970s, the bonobo was still considered an unknown primate,” he says. “Discoveries made over the past five decades have helped us better understand human evolution.”
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