Bonobos

THIS past weekend I went with some frolleagues (friends/colleagues) to see the bonobos, one of the four species of apes, at the Lola Ya Bonobo ("Paradise for Bonobos") reserve about an hour's ride from Kinshasa. They've got a reputation of being very sexual (all permutations of sexuallity) and live in a matriarchal society. (That's all referring to the bonobos, not [necessarily] my frolleagues.) Anyway, when I was there, the bonobos were indulging in a fair amount of sex; a lot of bananas (don't get me started), grapefruit, and passionfruit; and a good deal of horsing around, including playing with plastic water bottles. A good time was had by all.

Anyway, see if you can determine which of the primates in these photos is very sexual and matriarchally oriented. (No mean comments on the blog, thanks.)

I should say that I'm very proud of myself for getting the bonobos to unburden themselves of their bananas by giving them to me (which is clearly what is happening in these photos.)

Unfortunately my own camera had run out of batteries, so thanks to Aly for snapping these.

Also, here's a very interesting article from the New Yorker on the controversy surrounding the lives of bonobos.