Bonobo: Man’s Lovable Cousin

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Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Rich Schwartz and I'm Abney Money. Welcome to Amazing Wildlife, where we explore unique stories of wildlife from around the world and uncover fascinating animal facts. This podcast is a production of My Heart Radio in San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, in international nonprofit conservation organization behind the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park. We're talking about wildlife and the push to protect it. Bonobos are our cousins. Genetically, researchers say both bonobos and chimpanzees are our closest living relatives. Later on, we'll talk to Dr Brian Hair, a professor of evolutionary anthropology at Duke University, about the bonobo's behavior and the way they learn and what that tells us about people. But first Rick and I will learn more about this rare intelligence species. Rick, honestly, I hadn't heard much about the bonobo before joining the San Diego Zoo Wild Black Alliances storytelling team. Why is it that you don't hear as much about the bonobo as you do about other great apes? Well, I think you're right, Ebany bonobos are not as well known as a chimpanzee, and honestly, For those that are listening who aren't sure what a bonobo is, I think it's fair to say if you saw a chimpanzee and a bonobo next to each other, you'd be able to see the subtle differences. But for now, I think it's proper to say bonobo's look like chimpanzees, but slightly smaller with a more slender build, if you will. And to answer your question, Ebony, I think because bonobos are only found in one place, and a remote place at that far in the rainforest of the Democratic Republic of Congo, they are pretty rare and not too many people have ever seen or heard of them. That said, when they were originally observed in the wild bye scientists, they were classified as a pigmy chimpanzee. They were then recognized though, as their own species, the bonobo. In So, how does the bonobo compare to other great Well, I mean, I think you could say the difference between bonobo's, guerrillas and orangutans is pretty clear. Bonobos are much smaller and look quite different when compared to those two larger species of apes. But when we look at bonobo's and chimps, well, I think we can see more similarities and differences, I mean, at least at first glance. With that in mind, here are a few notable differences between bonobos and chimpanzees. For example, Bonobo's tend to be smaller in weight and height. Banobo's will also walk on two legs more frequently than chimpanzees. Bonobo's tend to have a darker face pigment with pink lips, where chimpanzees will. They tend to have a lighter coloration on their face and darker lips. And keep in mind there are always exceptions to these rules, but these are sort of the usual differences cited by those who spend time around both species. So bonobos are another species that's matriarchal. How does this play out with bonobo's Yes, e many the matriarchal or female lead social structure is in fact how bonobos live their life. Now, for our listeners who heard our episode on elephants, they might be familiar with matriarchal social groups. Now, that's not to say elephant herds and bonobo troops or family groups are completely parallel. With elephants, we see the oldest female leading the herd and their daughters all usually stay within the same herd, and the males as the mature leave and establish smaller bachelor herds and usually commingled then with other herds as they get older. But with Bonobo's, it's not usually just one female that leads the troop. In fact, it is usually a group of well bonded but unrelated females that lead the troop. This happens because as young females mature, they will leave their birth troop or family group to join another troop. Now, interestingly enough, in the case of Bonobo's, the males will stay with their birth troop, usually for life. So this means that the mother son bonds are very important, as are the bonds between these unrelated females. That is fascinating. So what do we know about what happens next when these females leave. Well, be with the research that we have available to us, it is understood that females tend to leave their family group to join another troop around their adolescence. Now, this helps prevent inbreeding within the family group. What I find interesting, though, is that as a female joins a new troop, she develops a bond with the other females. It's believed this happens in bonobo troops because they display a behavior not seen in chimpanzees. This is the sharing of food with strangers or those not well known to their troop. Some research even suggests that bonobo's prefer to share with strangers before sharing with their own family members, and this behavior can almost be seen as a welcoming of new genetics into the family group. Oh And along with social grooming and cuddling together, bonobos are well known for settling differences through kind of physical gestures rather than fighting, and I understand because they're so closely related, bonobos are often compared to humans. Do they demonstrate any behaviors that might be considered humanlike? Oh? Sure, Ebony. I think that when anyone sits and observes many of the great ape species, especially the minobo, it's easy to see similarities to humans, whether it's within the family dynamics and how they interact and care for each other, or how they move within their space, maneuvering very much like we do. And if you are fortunate enough to see troop members interacting, you will notice facial expressions that seem very similar to our own as well. Rick Bnobles are credited for having a relatively peaceful society compared to other great apes like chimpanzees. Can you give examples of why they're considered peaceful? Oh, yes, it's amazing. Almost all observations support that statement. Ebony chips tend to rely on cunning behavior and competition to gain control and dominance over troop members. Sometimes even troops will do battles, whereas bonobo's, like we mentioned earlier, prefer to share food, cuddle, and cooperate to create strong bonds within the troop. So, yeah, and banobles have quickly become my new favorite, right why not? Yes? So you mentioned they live in remote, out of the way places in nature. But are these forests? Are there close to towns? Are they becoming more close to towns as we're seeing with some other species. What are some of the threats that the bonobos are facing in nature? Well, Ebony. Although the native range of the bonobo is considered remote, they do have some challenges. Unfortunately, there are few bonobo's left in their natural habitat, and therefore they are considered one of the most endangered of the great apes. Humans continue to move into bonobo habitat hunting these amazing apes for food and selling their babies into the illegal pet trade. Commercial logging operations create new roads to harvest timber, giving people easier access to hunt or capture rainforest wildlife, including bonobo's. Furthermore, the bonobo's range is within one country with an unstable government, the Democratic Republic of Congo, which puts their population in a more precarious position than if their range overlap to many countries. Additionally, there are also few bonobos in expert managed care. You know, the San Diego Zoo has successfully cared for these intelligent and curious apes since the nineteen sixties and we continue to support conservation efforts in Central Africa. So, rick, it's horrible to think about that these amazing apes are hunted and their babies sold for wildlife trafficking. Um, what's being done to fight that? Yeah? You know, I mean, this is one of those topics it's always difficult to talk about, but needs to be discussed because we need to drive more awareness to help stop it. If we don't talk about it, people aren't aware of it, it can keep happening. So by definition, wildlife trafficking is the poaching and sale of live animals or plants or parts of them. So with animals, you know we're talking horns for bones and ivory. With plants it would be the wood, the seeds, other parts of it. And poachers collect animals or plants smugglers and export or import them into countries that can be far from home. People who buy these products may you them for jewelry, home decore, medicinal purposes, or curiosities. And sometimes people purchase these items as souvenirs while on vacation without knowing how they were collected or what it means to the wildlife. Wildlife trafficking has contributed to the decline and sometimes devastation of so many wildlife populations. But we can't just stop the conversation there. What is it that we can do? What can those of us who care about wildlife do to help prevent wildlife trafficking? Well, here's a starting point. Be mindful when you purchase souvenirs while traveling. Trinkets that come from animals or plants may not be sustainably collected and may even be illegal. And postcards with pictures of wildlife are actually much better. And be informed when you buy, even if you're not traveling, perhaps something has been imported to where you live. Don't be afraid to ask shop owners where items came from. And if they don't know an item's origin, or maybe it's just to you it doesn't feel right, don't buy it, And of course encourage your friends and family to buy smart and be conc and just consumers. If we all pay close attention to what we're doing, it really can make a big difference. That's great advice. I particularly like the idea of the wildlife photography and the post card. That's a great tip. And we'll be talking more about that and other solutions than what we can do a bit later when we talked to Dr Brian Hair. But first this now it's time for the San Diego Zoom Minute, an opportunity for you to learn what's new at the zoo. Luke, the first African penguin chick that hatched at African Rocks at the San Diego Zoo, is now four years old and he's taken an interest in girls. He recently began courting Katie and finally won her over. They now defend each other from intruding birds. Luke's behavior is in stark contrast to the behavior of another African penguin, Danny. Danny has been splitting his time with two girlfriends, longtime partner and co parent Mallory and spring fling Brecon and spending time with each one individually. See the Penguins Live at Africa Rocks on San Diego Zoo's Penguin Camp at San Diego Zoo dot org. Today we've been talking about the bonobo and joining the conversation now is Dr Brian Hair, Professor of evolutionary anthropology at Duke University and an expert in bnoble behavior and psychology. Hi, Brian, Oh, it's a pleasure to be with you. Haven't need to talk about bonobo's awesome. So when a species such as the bonobo is is described as being so close to humans, what does that really mean. Well, in when we first began comparing genomes using technologies where you could compare the genetics or genomes of different species, we started to learn or become aware that chimpanzees and obo's are more closely related to humans than they are to gorillas. So what that means is that the genome of a bonobo or a chimpanzee is more similar to that of a human than it is to a gorilla. And that's a real surprise because when you look at them, a gorilla, a chimpanzee, bonobo, they look more like each other, but actually bonobo's, along with chimpanzees, are more like us. And I noticed that the closeness to humans is something that is emphasized often from a psychology perspective or a science perspective. Why does that matters there? And added benefit to learning about the bonobo? And does it give insight to human behavior? So it's really exciting that we have two close relatives bonobos and chimpanzees. It's like having two first cousins. So it's like having a first cousin, one that's a girl and one as a boy. They're both equally related to you, but they're different from each other. And so one of the things we can do is ask questions about, well, given there so closely related to each other, how could they be so different in interesting ways? Because bonobo's have a very different social system than chimpanzees, and so we can ask questions about, well, how did they get that way? How did they become different from one another? And then we can start thinking about, well, if we can learn about how they became different, We can learn how our own species became different from them, and can we talk about some of those differences. How is the social structure for the bonobo different than that of the chimpanzee. Well, I think the number one thing for people to know about bonobo's is that no bonobo has ever been observed to kill another bonobo. Now, that is not what you can say about chimpanzees or what you could say about people, of course, and so I think that's one of the most exciting things to understand about their social system is that even if they meet a complete stranger, someone they've never met before, a bonobo that they run into in the forest, they generally have a pretty positive reaction, and they're not aggressive or violent or anything like that. So I think that's really interesting that differ groups of bonobos that are strange to each other can get along really, really well. And with your research, have you found any clues about how that came to be or why that is. Well, the big thing that we think happened is that female bonobo's basically about a million and a half maybe two million years ago, they woke up one morning they said they were really tired of male aggression, and they decided to work together. And if any male and male bonobo's like chimpanz emails are bigger than females, but if any male try to bully a female bonobo, they worked together. They said, no way. You might be able to pick on one of us, but you can't pick on all of us. And they preferred friendly males. The friendliest males actually were the ones they were more likely to mate with and reproduce with. And over evolutionary time, we now know that bonobos became friendlier. And so really it was through what I like to call girl power. Uh, female bonobo has worked together and male aggression has been forever changed. Where bonobo females, for instance, they don't have to worry about their babies being injured or killed by a male. And that's not what you can say for gorillas or chimps or natons or even people. So it really is they female bonobos have defeated in a way male aggression in a way that no other species has. Wow, that is fascinating. So the key to a peaceful society is is possibly allowing females to be in charge. That's very interesting. So you've studied both the bonobos in the chimpanzees, Are there any other differences that stand out to you. The other thing that is really exciting about bonobo's is that one of the other ways that they're different from chimpanzees is they tend to be a little bit more juvenile like uh. And the way to think about it as they're sort of the peter pan ape in our primate family. So what that does, though, is it means the males, instead of sort of being as aggressive or violent to say a chimpanz email as an adult, they're just kind of silly and goofy. They're very playful and so a lot of times and if there's tension in the group, if someone's upset, instead of that leading to a fight like it might with other species, Ponobo's tend to just start goofing around being silly and they're so endearing as a result. So when working with the species that has been proven be so closely related to humans, I would imagine they may display some humanlike behaviors. Can you describe any that stand out? Sure? One of the things that makes bonobos special in a way that makes them very human like is their attention to eyes. They love to make eye contact, and they like to make eye contact more similar to the way that humans like to make eye contact with each other chimpanzees. When people have carefully studied where they look when they're looking at another chimpanzee's face, they actually tend to look at the other chimpanzees mouth. They want to know what's in their mouth and or they eating something, and you know, could they have Some Bnobos tend to make much deeper eye contact. They're very interested in the eyes and thinking there is that that's partly what makes them a little bit more responsive to how others are feeling, perhaps even a little bit more empathic, and allows for them to cooperate in ways that maybe chimpanzees can't sometimes. So do we know why the great apes might differ so much despite their close genetic similarities. Yeah, so we've done a lot of work comparing chimpanzees and bonobo's and we think it has to do with the fact that Bonobo's only live south of the Congo River, and when they were evolving and as they live, they never had to directly compete with guerrillas. Now, chimpanzees lived together with guerrillas, and they have to compete for food against guerrillas, and so we think that that extra competition shaped chimpanzees to be a little bit more competitive and made it harder for females to work together against male aggression, Whereas south of the Congo River, the females could be more friendly. They had more food, they didn't have to compete for food against guerrillas, and so they could work to stop maile aggression in a way that chimpanzee females can. So it seems as if people turn to science to help answer questions about what's natural for humans, if the Bonobo social structure and behaviors are possibly a hint at what's natural for humans, then what have researchers learned well. I think the big learning here from Bonobo's is that friendliness wins. I think that one of the things that confuses people is often we have this phrase survival of the fittest, and I think people think that that means that you have to be big and strong and alpha, and somehow if you are, you're more valuable. That's a misconstrule, and in fact, what Bonobo show is that friendliness is the evolutionary winning strategy and that a male bonobo that is friendlier, not only is it more likely to be successful and having lots of offspring, but it's going to have more friends. And they are a lot more silly and have a lot more fun, and I promise they have a lot less stress in their lives. So I think that's the big thing they teach us is friendliness wins. And for you personally, what has it been like for you to study the bonobo for fifteen years? Did you say, yeah, they inspire me. Sometimes people tease me about like, oh, well, you know, how are you ever going to be as good as a bonobo male? So I just always say I tried my best every day to be the best bonobo male I can and be a friendly, fun guy and not release the inner chimpanzee that might be hiding in there. So, unfortunately, the bonobo population is declining. What are some of the threats causing this decline. Well, I've worked very closely with Lola a Bonobo, which is the only sanctuary for orphan bonobos in the Democratic Republic of Congo where bonobo's live. It's the only country that they are found and our native to and there it is really the illegal pet trade and the exot pet trade, and so the sanctuary is set up to allow for enforcements of law that prevents that. So orphan bonobos that people were trying to sell as pets are rescued and given life time care and then hopefully released into the wild. And so that would be one of the really big drivers of you know, bonobo population decline. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, it is less so forest destruction currently. The amazing inspiring thing about the Congo Basin is, for the most part it's intact in terms of the forest. The bigger issue is that the animals are being killed and sold because economic opportunity is pretty limited. Otherwise. Is there anything that people can do to help with that situation? Well, I mean, just even knowing that bonobo's exist is a big thing, because obviously most people know about chimpanzees and that they're closest relative, and so it's confusing sometimes to people that we have two closest relatives. Wait, I thought we had one. No, we have two first cousins. And so even just knowing that, learning about them, coming to see them at the San Diego Zoo and saying hi, because there's an amazing population there and y'all should be really happy that you have them. And if there's other people who are near other zoos that have bonobo's, go visit them. And then of course supporting organizations like the Zoo or Lola Ya Bonobo where people are working really hard to defend, protect and educate everybody about bonobo's. That's another good way too. We've been talking to Dr Brian Hair, professor of evolutionary anthropology at Duke University and an expert in bnoble behavior in psychology. It's been great talking with you. Thank you so much. Thank you, Ebony, thanks for listening. We hope you learned a lot about the bonobo and be sure to subscribe and tune into next week's episode, in which we'll bring in the story of a great eight that spends so much time in the trees. Their common name translates to person of the forest. I'm Abdemone and I'm Rich Schwartz. Thanks for listening. If you would like to find out more about San Diego Zoo WILDLFE Alliance, please visit sdz W a dot org Amazing Wildlife. As a production of My Heart Radio. Our producer is Nikia Swinton, and our executive producer is Marcy to Peanut. Our audio engineer and editor is Sierra Spreen. For more shows from My Heart Radio, check out the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.