Environmental Outlook: Bonobos on the Brink of Extinction
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2010-06-01/environmental-outlook-bonobos-brink-extinction
Bonobos are a female-dominated and peaceful species of great apes. But they are on the brink of extinction in the wild. As part of our ongoing Environmental Outlook series, we examine lessons from bonobos and efforts to save them.
Guests
Vanessa Woods
a research scientist, journalist and author; her new book is "Bonobo Handshake."
Richard Carroll
managing director of the Congo Basin for the World Wildlife Fund.
Sally Jewell Coxe
president and co-founder of the Bonobo Conservation Initiative.
Comments
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Some have absurdly suggested that humans would be good to emulate certain aspects of bonobo 'culture.' Since bonobos are many millions of years less evolved than humans, to suggest that we should emulate them is to assert that we should take evolutionary steps backwards, or de-evolve.
This is ridiculous. First off, humans are patriarchal and bonobos are matriarchal - it is worth noting that patriarchal cultures have always and will always overcome matriarchal ones in both humans and animals, hence bonobos are going extinct and all of the various human cultures which were matriarchal have been overcome by patriarchal societies.
The hypersexuality of bonobos is also clearly something for humans to avoid. The nuclear family is the basis of human civilization, with the sexuality of both sexes being held in check by socio-civilizational norms. And especially in an overpopulated world, to think that we should throw all sexual caution to the wind is ridiculous. The world is already increasingly anarchic, and we don't need to throw even more social anarchy in to the mix.
The anti-violence aspects of bonobo society are admirable, but unrealistic for humans which evolved as a species steeped in violence, territorialism, and so on.
So for those who want to de-evolve and live more as the bonobos do, I say: go back in to the jungle and join them!
I recently read that any Bonobos born in captivity that are mixed breed are castrated to keep the bloodline pure, could your guests comment
I'm currious: you mention that the bonobos are matriarchal. Are there bachelor groups in the bonobo society? If so, does this peaceful nature 'carry over' to the bachelor groups?
That is, is the peaceful nature only found in the groups where the females are dominant or generally across the board?
And is Konze (forgive the spelling) housed with a group of bonobos or has he shown any increased aggression being house 'on his own'?
Uhhh...that's not what evolution is like. Evolution has no telos toward 'better'; it is the result of innumerable little advantages and disadvantages, with a strong noise component created by random chance. If intelligence or decency or good fashion sense provide no net survival advantage, it will likely disappear to the extent that it is genetic or subject to cultural evolution.
Anyway, as we are not descended from bonobos, it would be meaningless to say that we are 'more evolved' than they---evolution has been at work on us and on them for exactly the same length of time. I suppose if we were able to compare both genomes to the genome of our nearest common ancestor, one would be more different from it than the other such, so we could say that that one were 'more evolved', but as stated previously, that has no bearing on 'better' and 'worse'.
So taking what we can from the bonobo is not a step backward, but sideways...note that this strategy works wonders for bacteria in need of antibiotic resistance, grabbing the genes for it from anyone who'll conjugate with them.
As for the advisability of our aping some aspects of bonobo behaviour, note that we are capable of cultural and technical evolution---even if we are inherently violent, we will very soon be able to change ourselves. Less forcefully and more pleasantly, I doubt there were large conflicts over pieces of land and over resources before they were both scarce, and if we can rise above our laughably primitive technological level, we can make them again abundantly available...we have already partially done so---I barely had to knife-fight
anyone
on my way to work today. As for religious war, I will note the sighs of some preachers over how irreligious Europe has become, a society in which more people live without fear of want than ever in human history---and the most religious segments are the poorest, indicating that wealth is the cure not only for war, but God as well.
Thank you so much for having this program! I visited Lola Ya Bonobo in 2005. I was fortunate enough to be allowed to spend some time with the babies in an open clearing. There were about 10 bonobos, less than two years old. I was amazed how human-like they are. It was like playing with a two year old human baby, with tow exceptions: no tantrums and no crying. Just solid joy and fun! One of the new arrivals was too weak to play with the others and spent the entire time in his "mama"s lap. But he did want to play. He reached out and gently touched my arm to get my attention and then leaned in for a kiss (I have a photo of this moment on my desk). We played the "kissing game" and held hands for almost an hour. How could I not want to save these creatures? All you have to do is look into their eyes to know!
To Anti-Monopolist/puritan: Just because of a fluke in evolution, it doesn't mean we can't aspire to learn from this matriarchal, gentle, loving society! We can change! Yes, we can! ;-)
I believe one of the main reason why bonobos had not fared as well as other chimpanzees, and why they control such a tiny territory, it's because their matriarchal, feminist-ruled societies are incapable of defending themselves as can the usual male dominated chimp societies. They cannot organize in formations for war as males almost naturally do. Males have been hunting in bands for centuries, whereas females, burdened with children, have never learned to do this. It's a pacifistic "make love, not war" society, but their territory and continued existence is fragile as a result.
And when females die, the ability to reproduce dies as well. But when males die, the remainder left alive can mate with many females to bring up their numbers relatively quickly again. All of this is why female-dominated societies don't last long when they are physically challenged by organized male dominated aggressive societies.
Some of the comments on this board give a depressing outlook for both bonobos and humans. Perhaps our only real hope for a non-violent future lies in reproductive technologies that render the male of the human species redundant. Certainly the planet can’t sustain warring hordes of human males indefinitely. Be that as it may, this was a great show with courageous people doing good work. I believe they demonstrate that we can put our frontal lobes to good use and value the path of cooperation over violence.
I caught just enough of the show to hear a woman with a distinctly foreign accent (Australian, perhaps?) explaining to us why Americans should be delighted to be funding Bonobo protection programs with our tax dollars, and a few moments later offering statistics of 1-in-6 women in American households being the victims of abuse. I'm curious as to where she found these figures. I also think that perhaps someone should clue her in to the idea that it's probably not a good time for her to be preaching to Americans about where we should be sending our tax dollars. We're feeling "taxed enough already", and foreign voices over the air waves expounding why we should be happy about our dollars going to the Congo-much as we like the Bonobos-is nothing less than irritating.
From The Peanut Gallery ...
Humans are not universally patriarchal as is suggested by Anti-Monopolist. The Irish for instance traditionally have a matriarchal culture -- Mom rules and don't you forget it. Also, to suggest that matriarchal societies are more peaceful doesn't wash either -- once again look at the Irish.
Whether we like it or not, humans are a highly aggressive invasive indigenous species. We are the direct or indirect cause of the extinction of thousands of species in the last 10,000 years as human development spread.
Can we learn? Perhaps some can, but I fear it won't be universal in this evolutionary cycle.
Since the US is the largest consumer nation on the planet we are, albeit indirectly, partly responsible for the decline of the Bonobos, isn't it reasonable that we should contribute to help support this species. US tax rates are far below many other countries and while there's a lot of rhetoric about our national debt, our country's debt to earnings ratio is still less than the average home owner.
The Bonobos are a great model, and lets not forget the Dolphins as well they are almost as peaceful and it is because of their sexuality /sharing society. They are the two other largest brains on the planet per body size like us and have evolved the better way . Yes of course a Violence centered domination society "works". Like us and common chimps , but how well and for how long ? Really think. With chemical , biological and nuclear weapons and endless terrorism with endless violent conflict for money, resources, and monogamous sexual ownership what will be the outcome ? Only LOVE , can save the world the Bonobos and Dolphins ARE more evolved socially. A society based on sharing and a Sex based society also 'works" as the Bonobos and Dolphins PROVE for millions of years. Which would you rather live in . Lets get over this ridiculous fear of love and sex and Make LOVE NOT WAR. " If we don't put and end to war, war WILL put and end to us." JfK, "The fourth World War will be fought with sticks and stones." A. Einstein. "Love is all you need. " The Beatles. Please see Neurobiology of Aggression Sapolsky, Legacy; Michael Wood PBS,
Electronic Civilization, thevenusproject.com
So much anger, rigidity, self-righteousness, and labeling in this posting. And so judgmental.
"De-evolving" is not the issue.
You assume that humans have already evolved and therefore should and will stay as they are, forever. Or that we have evolved in the right direction (that is debatable -- other species might disagree if they could speak).
Evolution, including that of humans, is constant and unstoppable. A bunch of mega oil spills and a couple of nuclear wars, and we may become not unlike the bonobos (whether you like it or not).
Response to Patricia614:
The woman with the foreign accent was right. As an American taxpayers I think we should be financing wildlife preservation projects around the world -- then perhaps we'd be spending less, or not at all, on stupid, self-defeating foreign wars. Let's bark up the right tree (not the one with the bonobos).
Personally, I think living in a sosciety where no one knows who their father is, is great. Just check the nearest ghetto, and you can see how well it works for we humans. Perhaps the bonobos could set up "Bonobo Cultural Centers" around the world. That way they could teach us all to learn to do without our fathers. Or, at least, learn to "accept" whatever male in our life as a father figure. I mean, Bonobos have been around a lot longer than we have, and look how well they are doi...oh...wait.
And when they are done teaching us their ways, we can celebrate with some traditional bonobo clitrubbing.
Kanzi lives with Bonobos and forgive me if I don't have this term exactly right, but lives in a bi-cultureal society. In otherwords he interacts with bonobos and humans almost equally. The Bonobos in the study work only if they want to, and what they want to work on. They have control over who and when someone has access to them, they control the door. There are those bonobos who don't participate in the study as a control group, and also to keep the bonobo culture in tact.
They understand and use language both through the use of a symbol board, and recently they have drawn on the floor with chalk to express ideas to the humans involved in the study. They have done this on their own without having the idea planted.
These are extremely intelligent, non-agressive great apes. However, they will and do defend their society from threats such as chimps who have tried to attack them. They win these encounters by the way, due to their superior intellect. So much for being whimps because of being a matriarcal society. They just choose to settle disagreements without violence if possible. Thats the lesson we can take from them. Man acts more like chimps then bonobos. We would rather take what we want with violence then cooperate for our common good. Chimps generally won't share food unless they get someothing in return, sex, or cooperation in the next hunt. Bonobos do so without alterior motives. Woudn't it be great to live in a world that shares resources and therefore eliminates most of the reasons for going to war? Before you make comments please take time to research these wonderful animals. They might just astound you.
All the males in Bonobo society take on the responsibility of rasing the young. So they don't have "just one father" they have all the males in the group to help raise, love, and guide them while they grow up. So instead of like people who run off, all the males "Bonobo up" when it comes to the responsibliity of raising the young. Thank God they don't "Man up" and have young that grow up to be aggressive, rape (which is not tollerated in Bonobo society by the way), steal and kill their fellow bonobos. The reason their society "doesn't work" is man destroying their enviroment, killing the adults to steal the young for pets and the adults for meat. So when you question why they are going exstinct and point they finger at them, remember you have three fingers pointing back at yourself.
Please take the time to read about these animals