On this page , we present to you the most updated facts about primates in democratic republic of congo including Bonobos , Mountain Gorillas in Virunga National Park, Maiko national Park & Kahuzi Biega National Park Eastern Lowland gorillas trekking .
Congo gorilla Safaris presents you the mostly updated facts about info about the bonobos ,where to find the Bonobos, when to visit congo, visiting river congo and exploring other primates for great gorilla trekking experience in Democratic republic of congo for memorable Safari holiday.
Bonobos in Congo are managed by lolaya bonobo or bonobos in Congo which is non profit organization responsible for the conservation of these apes. A sanctuary for orphaned bonobos and one of the most popular tourist attractions in the Kinshasa area. The bonobos are hunted for bush meat, and when a mother is killed, the babies are often taken and sold on the black market as pets. The sanctuary tries to recover as many as possible so that they can live out their lives in safety. One of the four great apes, bonobos has been relatively isolated until the 20th century. The sanctuary covers 30 hectares of forest and you can visit the several feeding stations that the staff uses to help track the apes. The sanctuary also accepts volunteers.
The bonobo also historically known as the pygmy chimpanzee and less often, the dwarf or gracile chimpanzee,is an endangered great ape that is still trekked in democratic republic of congo and one of the two species making up the genus Pan; the other being the common chimpanzee .
Bonobos are found only south of the Congo River and north of the Kasai River (a tributary of the Congo), in the humid forests of the Democratic Republic of Congo of central Africa. Ernst Schwarz’s 1927 paper “Le Chimpanzé de la Rive Gauche du Congo”, announcing his discovery, has been read as an association between the Parisian Left Bank and the left bank of the Congo River; the bohemian culture in Paris, and an unconventional ape in the Congo
Many writers and travelers may get confused to think that Bonobos are chimpanzees yet they are not a subspecies of chimpanzees as they are different from the chimpanzees in Africa , but rather a distinct species in their own right, both species are sometimes referred to collectively using the generalized term chimpanzees, or chimps. Taxonomically, the members of the chimpanzee/bonobo sub tribe Panina are collectively termed panins.
Bonobos (Pan paniscus) are a great ape species found exclusively in the Democratic Republic of Congo. They are endangered and may become extinct in the next 75 years. Only between 50,000 and 75,000 remain in the wild today. You can help us protect this species by supporting the Lola Ya Bonobo Sanctuary.
The bonobo is distinguished by relatively long legs, pink lips, dark face and tail-tuft through adulthood, and parted long hair on its head. The bonobo is found in a 500,000 km2 (190,000 sq mi) area of the Congo Basin in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central Africa.
The species is omnivorous and inhabits primary and secondary forests, including seasonally inundated swamp forests. Political instability in the region and the timidity of bonobos has meant there has been relatively little field work done observing the species in its natural habitat.
Along with the common chimpanzee, the bonobo is the closest extant relative to humans.Because the two species are not proficient swimmers, the formation of the Congo River 1.5–2 million years ago possibly led to the speciation of the bonobo. Bonobos live south of the river, and thereby were separated from the ancestors of the common chimpanzee, which live north of the river.
The species is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List and is threatened by habitat destruction and human population growth and movement, though commercial poaching is the most prominent threat. They typically live 40 years in captivity; their lifespan in the wild is unknown.
Primatologist states bonobos are capable of altruism, compassion, empathy, kindness, patience, and sensitivity and the entirety of parental care in bonobos is assumed by the mothers. The bonobo is commonly considered to be more gracile than the common chimpanzee. Although large male chimpanzees can exceed any bonobo in bulk and weight, the two species actually broadly overlap in body size. Adult female bonobos are somewhat smaller than adult males. Body mass in males ranges from 34 to 60 kg (75 to 132 lb), against an average of 30 kg (66 lb) in females. The total length of bonobos (from the nose to the rump while on all fours) is 70 to 83 cm (28 to 33 in).
When adult bonobos and chimpanzees stand up on their legs, they can both attain a height of 115 cm (45 in). The bonobo’s head is relatively smaller than that of the common chimpanzee with less prominent brow ridges above the eyes. It has a black face with pink lips, small ears, wide nostrils, and long hair on its head that forms a parting. Females have slightly more prominent breasts, in contrast to the flat breasts of other female apes, although not so prominent as those of humans. The bonobo also has a slim upper body, narrow shoulders, thin neck, and long legs when compared to the common chimpanzee.
Bonobos do not form permanent monogamous sexual relationships with individual partners. They also do not seem to discriminate in their sexual behavior by sex or age, with the possible exception of abstaining from sexual activity between mothers and their adult sons. When bonobos come upon a new food source or feeding ground, the increased excitement will usually lead to communal sexual activity, presumably decreasing tension and encouraging peaceful feeding.
Bonobo clitorises are larger and more externalized than in most mammals while the weight of a young adolescent female bonobo “is maybe half” that of a human teenager, she has a clitoris that is “three times bigger than the human equivalent, and visible enough to waggle unmistakably as she walks”. In scientific literature, the female–female behavior of bonobos pressing genitals together is often referred to as genito-genital rubbing, which is the non-human analogue of tribalism, engaged in by some human females.
Bonobo reproductive rates are no higher than those of the common chimpanzee. Bonobo males engage in various forms of male–male genital behavior. The most common form of male–male mounting is similar to that of a heterosexual mounting: one of the males sits “passively on his back with the other male thrusting on him”, with the penises rubbing together due to both males’ erections. In another, rarer form of genital rubbing, which is the non-human analogue of fretting, engaged in by some human males, two bonobo males hang from a tree limb face-to-face while penis fencing. This also may occur when two males rub their penises together while in face-to-face position. Another form of genital interaction (rump rubbing) often occurs to express reconciliation between two males after a conflict, when they stand back-to-back and rub their scrotal sacs together, but such behavior also occurs outside agonistic .
More often than the males, female bonobos engage in mutual genital behavior, possibly to bond socially with each other, thus forming a female nucleus of bonobo society. The bonding among females enables them to dominate most of the males. Although male bonobos are individually stronger, they cannot stand alone against a united group of females. Adolescent females often leave their native community to join another community. This migration mixes the bonobo gene pools, providing genetic diversity. Sexual bonding with other females establishes these new females as members of the group.
The bonobo is an omnivorous frugivore; 57% of its diet is fruit, but this is supplemented with leaves, honey, eggs, meat from small vertebrates such as anomalures, flying squirrels and duikers, and invertebrates. In some instances, bonobos have been shown to consume lower-order primates. Some claim bonobos have also been known to practice cannibalism in captivity, a claim disputed by others.
When planning a congo safari tour , dont forget to include the visit to the various national parks of congo like Upemba National Park, salonga national park.