Not only is it Valentine’s Day, but it’s World Bonobo Day, too! Listen in to Keeper Kaylee talk about our bonobo troop of 10.
It’s no coincidence that World Bonobo Day falls on the day of love. Bonobos are a matriarchal society with a much calmer family dynamic than the other three great ape species. Conflicts within the group are typically solved by non-aggressive behavior, likely due to female dominance. The males rank lower than every female in the troop, and they work together as more of a family rather than one male dominant leader. Known as the hippie apes, they tend to “make love, not war.”
Bonobos are found in a small portion of the forest in the Democratic Republic of Congo. With less than 30,000 individuals in the wild, bonobos are critically endangered. Forest destruction and habitat loss due to mining for coltan threatens bonobo populations. Coltan is a mineral found in batteries in electronics. A simple way to help the bonobos is to recycle your electronics - specifically cellphones and laptops. Recycling these devices keeps the coltan in circulation and reduces the demand to mine it from the wild.
Swing by the World of Primates and share some love with the hippie apes - bonobos!