The bonobo is the closest living relative of humans. We share over 98% of our DNA with the bonobo!
While there are physical similarities between the chimpanzee and the bonobo, the social structure of each is very different. Chimpanzee society is male-dominated whereas bonobo society is female-dominated. See the above link for more information on bonobos.
Formerly known as Zaire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in Africa is the only country where bonobos live in the wild. Human poverty is the most serious threat to bonobos as it leads to deforestation and poaching. People cut down the rainforest homes of the bonobos for fuel, to make money, and to satisfy the world's hunger for wood. People kill the bonobos (and other animals) for food and sell the infants in order to make money--even though it is illegal to do so.
Lola Ya Bonobo (Lola) is a sanctuary for orphaned bonobos located near Kinshasa in the DRC. In the language of Lingala, Lola means "paradise". For an orphaned bonobo Lola truly is paradise.
While you may find my bonobo photos likeable, you will undoubtedly find the story about how each bonobo came to Lola to be horrible. Each of the 46 bonobos at Lola (as of November 2005) came to the sanctuary as an orphan. This means that the mother of each of these 46 bonobos, and likely many other members of the group, were killed by poachers or loggers who eat the bonobos. The infants have little meat for eating so it is much more economical for the poacher to sell the infant for 5 or 10 U.S. dollars.
The tragedy of these orphaned bonobos does not end with the death of their mothers--on whom they are completely dependent. An infant, normally in constant contact with its mother, is taken from its mothers body and stuck in a wooden cage. The poachers don't have milk to feed the infant so they give it whatever is available, including alcohol. To give the infant water, the captors dunk the bonobo, still in the cage, into a body of water. Often one or more fingers and toes are cut off. No one monitors the health of the bonobo and no one notices if the infant is eating enough, if any, food.
 This journey from the wild to captivity is pure hell for infant bonobos. Many infants don't survive long enough to be rescued by Claudine Andre, who is the founder and director of Lola. For the 46 bonobos that made it to Lola, hundreds of bonobos died.
For the infants that are rescued, the struggle is not over. Many of the infants fail to thrive because, after being taken from their dead mother and enduring the cruel journey out of their rainforest home, they have lost the will to live. The infants must be weaned from alcohol and taught to like milk again. They must unlearn their fear of water before they will drink it. And an infant bonobo must accept a human as a substitute mother.
Employees of the sanctuary face an all-day task that lasts for months, if not years, in order to spark the orphaned bonobo's will to live. If the orphan adapts to their new environment then they can be integrated into a group of bonobos and begin to live their new life at Lola.
Claudine hopes to release some sanctuary-raised bonobos back into the rainforest by 2008.
"How can I help?"
-Donate to Lola Ya Bonobo.
-Donate to the study and conservation of bonobos in the wild through
Lukuru Wildlife Research Project.
-Be an eco-friendly tourist with
Terra Incognita Ecotours or
Volcanoes Safaris. Tourist dollars help to support the local economy and encourage animal and habitat protection.
-Become a member of and/or donate to a zoo that supports conservation in the wild. The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium supports Lola Ya Bonobo, Lukuru Wildlife Research Project, and many other conservation projects around the world.
-Educate yourself about conservation issues such as the Bushmeat Crisis.
-Reduce the pressure to cut down rainforests--don't buy items made from rainforest trees or poached animals.
-Join an organization that supports animal, habitat, and/or environmental protection. Some examples are...
Great Apes Survival Project
Wildlife Conservation Society
Environmental Defense Fund
The Nature Conservancy
National Audubon Society
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