Bonobo
Endangered Species By, Addy Blanton
A personal note
Bonobos' are a type of great ape, and their scientific name is Pan Paniscus. The bonobo population has gone down quite a bit these past couple decades. Which is very sad, not only are bonobo's beautiful creatures, but also they have very similar DNA to humans. This meas that they feel emotion, they express their emotion, they are intelligent, they know what is going on. They feel sad when a family member is killed, they feel pain when they fall out of a tree, but most of all, they feel love. They get attached to each other, they think o f others before themselves, wouldn't it be great if all humans were like that? Instead of killing them by taking away their habitat, maybe we should be taking notes.
how are Bonobos going extinct?
LRR (low reproduction rate) - Breeding is a step in the right direction to bring up population, the problem is it simply takes too long. The reproduction of Bonobos is slower than their dying rate. To put it simply, for every bonobo that is born, roughly three bonobos have died :(
Habitat loss (mostly forest) - Preserving the remaining habitat is very important for bonobos.
there are two ways that this habitat loss is occuring:
- destruction
- fragmentation
Poaching- The number of bonobos lost to poaching each year is unknown, but even one is too many.
Humans hunt bonobos to:
- eat them
- trade them as bushmeat
- keep them as pets
- medicinal use- certain bonobo parts are belived to enhance sexual vigor/strength
*Fun Fact- Bonobos are better at learning language than chimpanzees*
Protection
- Monitoring Teams and Eco-guards—More than 200 trackers and eco-guards monitor the bonobos and patrol the forest daily.
- Bonobo Rescue—Orphaned and abandoned bonobos are a tragic side effect of the bushmeat trade. Learn more about how we help them to safety.
- Bonobo Protection Unit—The BPU is a cooperative effort between BCI and local authorities ensuring the enforcement of anti-poaching laws.
- expansion of the Bonobo Peace Forest, a constellation of linked community-based reserves and conservation concessions. Within the Bonobo Peace Forest, we have many programs promoting the safety and well-being of bonobos.