The male Bonobo Chimpanzee grows to be 2.40 to 2.74 feet tall and weighs about 39kg (86 Ib). The female of the species is about 2.3 to 2.49 ft tall and weighs about 31 kg (68.3 Ib). The Bonobo Chimpanzee is a blackish color and has a black face. They also have black hair on their heads that do not tend to go bald with age like common chimpanzees’.

 

The Bonobo’s have smaller heads, longer thighbones, and longer feet than that of a common chimpanzee. Bonobo’s live only south of the Congo Basin and north of the Kasai River in the humid forest of the Democratic Republic of Congo of central Africa. The forests trees produce fruits that have adapted to mammal dispersion.

 

Bonobo’s do well in this ecosystem because it has everything they need and it is the right temperature for them. They are mostly found in central Africa. There is an estimated 5,000 to 17,000 Bonobo Chimpanzee’s left. They are an endangered species due to habitat destruction. Bonobo Chimpanzee’s are actually shrinking!

 

Primatologists say Bonobo Chimpanzees’ face a very high risk of going into extinction in the near future according to IUCN Red List criteria. Bonobo Chimpanzee’s eat insects, worms, fruits, leaves, bark, roots, mushrooms, and small mammals in the forest they live in. Bonobo Chimpanzee’s get their food by climbing trees or using branches from trees to dig for worms and small insects in the ground or in logs. They usually don’t really compete with each other or with other animals.

 

Bonobo Chimpanzee’s sometimes trade food with each other. The Chimpanzees’ only verified predators are humans. Poachers still kill them even though its illegal. Its been known that leopards and pythons that prey on common chimpanzees, may also feed on bonobos. Bonobos evade being eaten by hiding themselves in trees or just running away.

 

As I read about the Bonobos I learned that they were endangered due to habitat loss and poachers. I also learned that they lived in central Africa in the Congo Basin. A couple things that stood out as I read were that they sometimes eat mammals. I used to think that Bonobos just ate leaves and roots; actually I didn’t know that Bonobo or Pygmy Chimpanzees’ even existed.

 

Author: Tiffany W

Published: 02/2007

 

Bibliography Page “Pan Paniscus”. February 12, 2007 Galdikas, Birute. All Apes Great and Small: African Apes. Kuching, Malaysia: Springer, 2002. Ulijaszek, Stanley. “Pan Paniscus”. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Human Growth and Development. 1998 ed.

 

Photo Credit: This image is a work of a United States Agency for International Development employee, taken or made during the course of the person's official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the image is in the public domain.