Charith P.
Bonobo Intelligence: Meet Kanzi May 04, 2006 12:28 PM
Kanzi is the world's most famous bonobo! Kanzi demonstrated that bonobos can learn to understand human language, just like kids do, if they are raised in an interactive environment where language is part of their daily life.

Born to Lorel and Bosandjo at Yerkes field station at Georgia State University, Kanzi was stolen and adopted shortly after birth by a more dominant female, Matata. As an infant, Kanzi accompanied his mother to sessions where she was taught language through keyboard lexigrams, but displayed little interest in the lessons. It was a great surprise to researchers then when one day, while Matata was away, Kanzi began competently using the lexigrams, becoming not only the first observed ape to have learned aspects of language naturalistically rather than through direct training but also the first observed bonobo to use language at all. Within little time, Kanzi had mastered the ten words that researchers had been struggling to teach his adoptive mother, and has since learned more than two hundred more. Also notable is Kanzi's ability to understand spoken language and associate it with lexigrams, Kanzi's ability to understand simple grammatical sentences, and possibly his invention of novel vocalized words.

Kanzi is also a far more accomplished tool user and inventor than almost all other apes known to man.

Like his sister Panbanisha, Kanzi lives at the Georgia State University Language Research Center. He can understand spoken english and he "speaks" with a sign language.

Its also been noted that Kanzi significantly outperformed a human 2 year old in controlled studies of spoken English comprehension - the fruit of the research has been using the aided language system to teach mentally retarded humans how to communicate.


Kanzi talking to himself at the keyboard
(He is concentrating on the "good" symbol)

Kanzi's achievements are not limited to language, but include tool use and tool manufacturing as well. Kanzi is the first ape who can be said to have mastered truly the art of flaking or "knapping" stone. Kanzi began by hitting rocks together without regard for edge, stone structure or type. He used his brute strength, which is considerable, to produce small stone flakes, which he used to cut a string. With time, however, he began to recognize the characteristics of the stone, its shape and the importance of taking these factors into account while knapping. Consequently, strength was replaced by reflection and Kanzi has become an expert at the production of good flint cutting tools. He has not yet learned to modify his cutting tools if they dull, nor to produce tools that correspond to a pattern such as the hand axes produced by early humans, but he has demonstrated that stone tool manufacture is clearly within the competency of living apes.


Kanzi flaking stone

Kanzi continued to participate in the daily language living environment from birth until 1998, at which time he elected to integrate himself into the social group of bonobos consisting of his mother, his siblings and another adult male, P-Suke. At this time he continues to serve as a subject in language studies, tool manufacturing investigations, studies of vocal communication and social behavior.


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This still belongs to the previus article:

lexigram... May 07, 2006 12:59 PM
One of the lexigrams used by Kanzi to communicate with researchers at the Great Ape Trust:



learn how to communicate through this by checking out the interactive lexigram program, courtesy of the Great Ape Trust...

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Originally posted by Charith May 04, 2006 9:26 AM

The "Playful Primate"
Bonobos are imaginative in play. Primatologist Frans B. M. de Waal has watched captive bonobos engage in "blindman's buff." A bonobo covers her eyes with a banana leaf or an arm or by sticking two fingers in her eyes. Thus handicapped, she stumbles around on a climbing frame, bumping into others or almost falling. She seems to be imposing a rule on herself: "I cannot look until I lose my balance." Other apes and monkeys also indulge in this game, but he's never seen it performed with such dedication and concentration as by bonobos.

Juvenile bonobos are incurably playful and like to make funny faces, sometimes in long solitary pantomimes and at other times while tickling one another. Bonobos are, however, more controlled in expressing their emotions-- whether it be joy, sorrow, excitement or anger--than are the extroverted chimpanzees. Male chimpanzees often engage in spectacular charging displays in which they show off their strength: throwing rocks, breaking branches and uprooting small trees in the process. They keep up these noisy performances for many minutes, during which most other members of the group wisely stay out of their way. Male bonobos, on the other hand, usually limit displays to a brief run while dragging a few branches behind them.

Both primates signal emotions and intentions through facial expressions and hand gestures, many of which are also present in the nonverbal communication of humans. For example, bonobos will beg by stretching out an open hand (or, sometimes, a foot) to a possessor of food and will pout their lips and make whimpering sounds if the effort is unsuccessful. But bonobos make different sounds than chimpanzees do. The renowned low-pitched, extended "huuu- huuu" pant-hooting of the latter contrasts with the rather sharp, high-pitched barking sounds of the bonobo.

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Source: http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn6954

Charith P.
Bonobos dying as they flee hunters May 05, 2006 11:31 AM
Hunting may be altering the social ecology of our closest living relative, the pygmy chimpanzee, or bonobo, making this endangered ape even more difficult to study and protect.

A survey last year, of the Lomako forest, a 3600-square-kilometre region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), found more bonobos than expected, says Jef Dupain of the African Wildlife Foundation in Kanshasa (DRC), who carried out the study. But because their distribution was a lot patchier than has been seen previously, there were fewer actual nest sites, so the bonobos were more difficult to find.

This patchiness could be due to a natural social ecology not seen before, says Dupain. But the pressure of hunting is a more likely cause. Either way, protecting the great apes will be made even more difficult.

The findings could go some way to explaining why other surveys have found so few bonobos. In 2002, Dupain carried out a similar survey of the Lomako Forest and found just a quarter of the population compared with previous studies. Then last December WWF jointly published the largest population survey of bonobos ever undertaken, this time covering the Salonga National Park, the only place where the bonobos' habitat is protected. There they found so few apes that it was impossible to work out how many were left (New Scientist print edition, 11 December 2004).

In the 2005 study Dupain and colleagues covered about 100 square kilometres of the Lomako. By looking for evidence of the apes, such as nests or actual sightings, they calculated that the population density was roughly equivalent to pre-2002 levels - about two individuals per square kilometre.

There is still clear evidence of poaching, says Dupain, but the situation is not as bleak as it seemed just months ago. "What's becoming clear from these studies is that we still have lots to learn about their distribution and abundance," says Peter Stephenson of WWF's African Great Apes Programme.

What we do know is that hunting is rife in all the areas where bonobos live, says Annette Lanjouw of the UN Environment Programme's Great Apes Survival Project. And if that is forcing bonobos to move around, it could have a very negative effect on their population structure and social ecology. "It's not just that their numbers are being decimated," she says. But also that they are being forced to move from their permanent settlements.

It is a very difficult situation, says Dupain. Just by studying the bonobos researchers can unintentionally lead hunters to the apes because of the trails they create. "This is a huge problem," says Lanjouw. Both logging roads and research trails open up areas of the forest, making it easier for hunters to reach their prey, she says. "It's an invitation to hunters," says Dupain. "However, if we hadn't have been there they would be hunted anyway."  [ send green star]

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No other source found.

Charith P.
"The countdown to extinction" May 07, 2006 12:47 PM
One of the world's leading scientists studying bonobos in Africa says an area that once had hundreds of the apes now has fewer than two dozen and that, if conditions persist in the Wamba forest of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), "bonobos will be extinct very soon."

Dr. Gen'ichi Idani of the Great Ape Research Institute (GARI) in Okayama, Japan, presented new findings from his Wamba field study to members of the American Zoo and Aquarium Association's (AZA) Bonobo Species Survival Plan Program meeting in Columbus, OH, in summer 2005.

Dr. Idani said the once bonobo-rich region of Wamba has seen a catastrophic decline in the past 10 years. Five out of six bonobo research groups have disappeared from the 150 square kilometer region. An area that held 300 bonobos now has only 22 – a 93 percent decline in the Wamba bonobo population.

According to Idani, the people of Wamba allowed bonobos to co-exist with them for generations and had a taboo against eating bonobo bushmeat. However, two wars in the past decade have had a significant influence on Wamba, its people and bonobos. Violence forced villagers to take refuge in the forest which resulted in deforestation, poaching and the eating of bushmeat.

“If we leave the Wamba forest as it is, bonobos will be extinct very soon,” says Idani. “The countdown for extinction has already begun.”

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Seems to be compiled from

http://www.bonobo.org/puzzle2.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanzi

and

http://www.bvu.edu/alumni/bvbriefs/spring2006/apes2.html

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Translated from German original by Andreas G.

Ape love in Cologne

Favourably, baby ape “Besede” smooches with mother “Binti” in the dorm nest. The little head with the long hair is firmly pressed against Binti's chest. Just like all Bonobos, Besede is a true mummy's darling. Little Bonobos are breast-fed for a long time, and first become adult with approximately eight years of age, as Dr. Werner Kaufmann, curator for primates in the Cologne zoo tells us.
So, still some time is to pass until the little ape girl will swing between tree tops.
In the zoo's rainforest house, Besede lives together with her relatives, for the bonds among Bonobos are very tight.

Joy over rare offspring

Out in the wild, the little hominids are near extinct, and in zoos, too, they are a rarity. That is why the joy in Cologne is the greater, now that with Besede a Bonobo baby was born – the first after 15 years!

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Translated from German original by Andreas G.

Animal fun society

Concerning homosexuality, particularly Bonobos are record-prone: About every two hours on an average, females practice same-sex togetherness. One female stands above the other on all fours; the nether female wraps her legs about her partner, and the girls start rubbing their genitals wildly.
During the common 15 seconds rub, both of them “grin, grimace and scream”, Canadian behaviour scientist Jonathan Balcombe explains. It were difficult not to interpret it as “animal joy”.
But the scientist even goes a step further: If Balcombe proves to be right, animals could even possess a subtle sense of humour.

Although it sounds different compared to humans: Chimpanzees do not only laugh, when tickled under their armpit, but also during fun chases and playful fights.
Indeed, Balcombe has compiled some impressive anecdotes, indicating that animals do know fun and humour, fool around, and play naughty tricks:

• An elephant cow in a zoo secretly filled her trunk with water, and suddenly, like with a giant hose, spouted it all over a group of visitors! - Did she think this funny?
  
• Does it amuse Dusky Dolphins, when they silently and secretly approach resting seagulls, carefully grab them by their legs and give them a quick dunk under water before releasing them again?
  
• Did those mean youngsters feel malicious joy, when they picked upon an elder, handicapped female fellow for days by imitating her contorted walk?

Of course, these observations are no proof, which is also clear to Balcombe. Even if animals could talk about their emotions – it would remain unclear, if they truly meant the same humans do.
And if the biologist were right: Do, in the end, even ants feel joy – e.g. Over an exceptional delicacy? After all, they do have a neural system and perceptive cells. Where is the fun limit between mammals and amoebae? “I don't know” Balcombe admits. “Where I'm in doubt, I prefer assuming they felt something.”

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You cannot currently send a star to Andreas because you have done so within the last week.

I concur with Jennifer H.

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Awwww!

You too are just sweethearts!

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I will get started on the website Monday! Hope everyone is having agreat weekend!

Hugz,

Joelle

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Here's a link to a recent BBC story on Lola Ya Bonobo (the bonobo sanctuary in Kinshasa, DRC).

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/06/africa_bonobos_under_threat/html/1.stm

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Here's the website for Lola Ya Bonobo (with links to both English and French versions).

http://lolayabonobo.org

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INTERESTING, I AM CROSS POSTING THE INFORMATION SITES ALONG WITH THE PETITIONS THEY ARE STILL OPEN.

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