Wildlife Conservation Congo, Democratic Republic of the Project #4368

Save Endangered Bonobos in the Congo Rainforest

by Bonobo Conservation Initiative

Save Endangered Bonobos in the Congo Rainforest

Project Report | Apr 16, 2018
Orphan Bonobo Rescue

By Rebecca Bossen | Communications Coordinator

BCI partner Heritier Mpo with rescued bonobo

We are pleased to report that we have successfully rescued another orphan bonobo! Orphans are an all-too-common side effect of the bushmeat trade, and few survive without their mothers. Thanks to the combined efforts of BCI staff and partners, this little bonobo will get a second chance at life.

In early March, BCI community partner Héritier Mpo was on assignment in the Sankuru Nature Reserve. While in the village of Hiekele, the chief informed Héritier about the orphan, a female approximately two years old. A hunter had killed the bonobo’s mother for meat, and then two days later sold the baby bonobo as a pet to a soldier from Lodja. Working with provincial and military authorities, Héritier and BCI staff devised a plan to retrieve the bonobo.

Many people within the Congo and beyond are still unaware that it is illegal to keep bonobos as pets. Humans are ill-equipped to provide for the physical, social, or emotional needs of bonobos, and pet bonobos usually do not live long. After informing the soldier about the law, Héritier successfully negotiated for the bonobo’s release. He obtained the necessary paperwork—no small feat given that Sankuru is a new province and still establishing its government services—and prepared the bonobo for transport to the Lola ya Bonobo sanctuary in Kinshasa. She is now doing well and awaiting her official name.

This orphan is one of the lucky ones. We are grateful for her rescue, and all the other orphan bonobos we have helped to safety. Still, the vast majority of orphans do not have a happy ending. Rescuing a bonobo can be difficult and dangerous. It requires awareness on the part of the community, political and legal support, and perseverance and bravery on the part of our field staff. As we celebrate this rescue, we recognize the contributions of the people who put their lives on the line every day to protect the bonobos. We also gratefully acknowledge you—your support makes it possible to train and equip our field teams, provide economic alternatives to poaching, and spread awareness about the importance of conservation.

As always, thank you for standing with us!

Enjoying a snack before her trip to the sanctuary

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Jan 16, 2018
New Year, New Decade of Making a Difference

By Jennifer Moustgaard | Program Coordinator

Albert Alukana (left), prepares for delimitation

2018 marks an important year for us at the Bonobo Conservation initiative. Not only will we be celebrating 20 years of protecting bonobos and empowering their human neighbors in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, but we will also mark 10 years of partnership with GlobalGiving in October! We are grateful for the family of collaborators that we have built over the years. And we are grateful that this family continues to grow!

While he has been a part of our team for several years, Albert Alukana recently embarked on a new mission of his own to expand bonobo protection near his home village. Albert was employed as a nurse at the Kokolopori health clinic, where he was inspired by the Bonobo Peace Forest concept. He saw that there was a way to simultaneously preserve rainforest and wildlife while securing better economic opportunities for his local community.

Albert left Kokolopori and traveled back to his village in the Bosoku sector of the neighboring Tshopo province, where he spearheaded the effort to form a conservation association focused on bonobo protection. He began by gaining the support of his community, and extended his efforts to nearby villages. He then pursued and received authorization from the local government to establish a conservation program in the area. After getting trained in GPS mapping techniques, Albert recently completed delimitation of what is now known as Foret Riche. During this process, he confirmed the presence of both bonobos AND forest elephants! We’re excited to work together on the next phase of mapping this high biodiversity area, and to develop a conservation program with our new community partners!

We are so proud of Albert and our other partners in the Congo. The progress that we have made so far in protecting bonobos is testament that our approach is working and continues to work. Your support has made this all possible. As we look forward to a new year and a new decade of progress, we also look forward to taking Albert’s project--and those of our other Peace Forest partners-- to the next level. Working together, we are creating a brighter future for bonobos and all who share their rainforest home.

As always, thank you for standing with us…and please help BCI and our partners by spreading the word about our work!

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Oct 19, 2017
New Bonobo Discoveries!

By Jennifer Moustgaard | Program Coordinator

Presley, Nkokoalongo bonobo group

Thank you to everyone who participated in the GlobalGiving’s Giving Week Bonus Day earlier this month! We are fortunate to have such a great community of supporters and we always appreciate the opportunity to make your donations go further.

As our monitoring and research programs progress at Kokolopori, we are excited to hear about other discoveries about our favorite species. A recent study published by a team of anatomists and evolutionary biologists has further demonstrated that humans may be even more similar anatomically to bonobos than to chimpanzees (Diogo, R., et al., 2017). The researchers studied head-neck, forelimb, and hindlimb muscles in bonobo specimens from the Antwerp Zoo, and compared to previous studies of other great apes. They concluded that bonobos, by virtue of their muscle patterns, most closely resemble the last common ancestor of modern day humans, chimpanzees, and bonobos.

At Kokolopori, our monitoring teams continue to follow and learn more about the bonobos. As we have previously reported, researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (MPI) have been studying two groups at the reserve. A third group—the Bekako group—has been observed joining one or both of the study groups on several occasions, most recently in August. As a result of this exciting development, the MPI team has provided additional training to the Bekako monitoring team in GPS and identification techniques, as we work to habituate and learn more about this group. We know that the group comprises approximately 16 bonobos, about half of which are juveniles and infants. As we advance the process of habituating the Bekako bonobos, we will be naming individuals after rivers.

Our work with the communities of Kokolopori, in particular the support of our tracking teams, is providing unprecedented opportunities to observe and gain even more insight into the lives and behaviors of bonobos. The benefit of the continual presence of local tracking teams is evident in the photos that are coming from our field projects. As the bonobos become more habituated to their observers, their personalities and uncanny similarities to human expressions are certainly coming through. We hope you enjoy the attached pictures as much as we do!

As always, thank you for standing with us…and please help BCI and our partners by spreading the word about our work!

Infant Tupac, with his mother Tyler

Ray, Nkokoalongo bonobo group

Links:

Bonobo anatomy article (Diogo et al.)

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