bonobo

The bonobo was not recognized as a distinct species until 1929, when German anatomist Ernst Schwarz examined a skull in the Tervuren Museum in Belgium and noticed it was different from common chimpanzees. Harold Coolidge confirmed the distinction in 1933. The species was initially called the 'pygmy chimpanzee,' though bonobos are not significantly smaller than common chimps.

The name bonobo is a mystery. The most widely cited explanation is that it comes from a misspelling of 'Bolobo,' a town on the Congo River where early specimens were shipped from. The word appeared on crate labels and was misread or miscopied as 'Bonobo.' Another theory connects it to a Bantu word, but no specific source has been confirmed.

Bonobos share 98.7 percent of their DNA with humans—the same percentage as common chimpanzees. But their social behavior is radically different from chimps. Bonobo societies are female-led, resolve conflicts through sexual contact rather than violence, and have never been observed killing members of their own species. Primatologist Frans de Waal called them 'the hippie ape' in 1997.

Bonobos exist only in the Democratic Republic of Congo, south of the Congo River. The river has separated them from common chimpanzees for approximately 1.5 to 2 million years. Fewer than 20,000 remain in the wild. The last great ape to be discovered was also the first to face existential threat from civil war, bushmeat hunting, and habitat loss.