Temperatures at Lola can hit 90oF with 100% humidity. Here is Manono, our Olympic swimmer having a little dip

photo: David Reid

Not sure if you remember the furore of the bigfoot photo
where someone actually took my photos and entered it into a bigfoot competition! but now the original bigfoot, Bandundu, has finally grown some hair. Which is lucky b/c now her baby has something to hold onto!

photo: David Reid

I always love photos of the photos with the lilies - they look so romantic - liek htey’re just inhaling their faint heady scent. But actually it’s the scene before they chomp them up - which doesn’t look so romantic - petals shredded everywhere. I’ve heard of bonobos foraging for pith (the bit inside the lily stem)- that ties into Richard Wrangham’s theory of the aquatic ape. And bonobos do hae a bit of webbing between their 2nd and 3rd toe.

But I haven’t heard of them eating flowers before…

photo: David Reid

This is little Bisengo, who I have known since he was born. He is the perfect example of an alpha bonobo. So we usually say that the females are in charge of bonobo groups, but actually it the babies - especially a little prince like Bisengo who can get anything he wants! If there is a grape within even 10 feet of Bisengo, it’s his, no matter who else is around!

Bisengo is quite a little climber - maybe a prime candidate for the release project?

I have some photos I’ve been meaning to post from David Reid who went to Lola a few months ago. I’ve post them all over the next few weeks!

This is Makali, a bonobo rescued from a biomedical centre. He has somethign to say!

Noki and her baby are in wonderful health! they’ve been released into the enclosures. Noki is nursing her baby well and protecting her from slapping branches and the sun. but she is also very proud and loves to show the baby to the other bonobos!

ooo - i got this photo from Val when Noki just arrived at Lola. Val is a volunteer at Lola - and has been for 15 years. She works practically full time handling Lola’s accounts - the sanctuary wouldn’t run without her. She comes in to Lola almost every day, for no recognition or reward other than helping the bonobos. We love you Val! and look at little Noki and those huge black eyes.

and then here is Val helping Noki give birth - 10 years later!

we share so much with these bonobos, they become so much a part of our lives. Val has been sending photos like crazy - she is a very proud grandmother.

Ok back to Lola now and I’m a little behind on all the news - but Noki had a baby!!

Noki is one of the cat burglers at Lola - she is also a prolific tool user - which bonobos haven’t been seen to do in the wild, fyi. once she used a long stick to steal my camera bag.

noki is also one of the smartest bonobos in all the experiments we do - she is so wildly interested in all the tests and sometimes we have trouble getting her out of the testing room!

now she has a baby!!

Fanny the vet was there for the whole thing, and so was Valerie, who was there when Noki was first rescued…

ooo, there are just baby bonobos everywhere, they make me so clucky!!

It’s a great week for bonobos in the news this week and these very bonobos were from Lola!! This is the work Tory (Victoria) was doing in Lola in 2007 with the drool…

http://bonobohandshake.blogspot.com/2007/09/bonobos-drool-for-tory.html

i like this one better than the cannibalism story…

Peter Pan ways make bonobos the most amiable of apes

Bonobos are the Peter Pans of the jungle. The amiable apes hold onto their youthful ways far longer into adulthood than chimpanzees, while some childish traits never vanish, a new study shows.

This difference may explain why bonobos are less aggressive and more social than chimps, says Victoria Wobber, a primatologist at Harvard University…

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18443-peter-pan-ways-make-bonobos-the-most-amiable-of-apes.html

ok, just one more pic of Lukaya being a good mom!! when bonobos spend too much time with humans, they tend to reject their young. we had that problem with Mimi, who lived with a human family for 15 years, and rejected every one of her babies.

we’re not sure how much time Lukaya spent with humans before she made it to Lola, but it can’t have been too long because she is a wonderful mother! Of course, she does have Etumbe to look up to!

Look at Lukaya shielding her baby from the sun! I can’t help but feel proud of her…