Navarro 1 Beatriz Navarro Catherine Dunn Pre Degree 3 20 March 2012 Humans and Their Hippie Cousins Make

love, not war is probably the best phrase to define the humans' hippie cousins: the bonobos. Bonobos are a species of ape that only inhabit a remote area in the Democratic Republic of Congo; specifically, they only inhabit in the rainforests in the south of the Congo River (Lonsdorf et al. 2). They are so rare that only about three hundred of them are found in captivity and it is thought that their population has dropped in the last thirty years from 100,000 to fewer than 20,000 due to conflicts in the area they inhabit. Bonobos are the last great ape species to be discovered and, if humans do not take actions in order to protect them and their habitat, they could also be the first ape species to become extinct (Raffaele 131). Along with the chimpanzees, bonobos are the closest apes to humans. Biologically speaking, bonobos are the closest you can get to being human without being human (What is a Bonobo?). In fact, bonobos share with humans a common ancestor and almost the 99% of their DNA (Hominoid Psychology Research Group). Despite the fact that Bonobos may seem to be very promiscuous because all the different sexual partner combinations and because sex is part of almost every social activity; humans and bonobos have much more in common than DNA. Just like humans do, bonobos have sex not only for reproductive purposes and enjoy mating in different positions and different sexual and erotic activities. There are more similarities between humans and bonobos than just their way they have sex. Some characteristics that for years have been claimed to be only for humans such as generosity, empathy and the ability to teach new skills to others have been found as part of

Navarro 2 bonobos social behaviour. Despite some differences, bonobos' sexual and social behaviour is similar to human ones and maybe the study of bonobos is the key to understanding humans. An important difference between bonobos and humans is their approach to their sexuality (Baunach 138). While for humans, sex is a private act, bonobos do not need to hide their sexual activities. Humans have moved sex out of the public domain and sexual activity takes place in private, and genital region tend to be hidden (de Waal 107). On the other hand, bonobos sexual activities are not hidden and take place in view of the other members of their community. For example, a female may masturbate in the open without catching the attention of her community. Also, in bonobos society sexuality is more share than contested. For instance, while two bonobos are copulating the young sometimes jump on top of them to take a peek at the details or even another adult can join them to take part in the fun (de Waal 90). Another difference between humans and bonobos approach to their sexuality is that while humans tend to establish a separation between their sexual and social lives, in bonobos it has been observed that sexual behavior is not confined to one aspect of their life that they set aside. It permeates their entire life (Savage-Rumbaugh). An example of this inclusion of sex in bonobos social lives is that while humans shake their hands as greeting, bonobos offer genital handshakes to say hello (de Waal 99-100). The grade of integration of sex in social activities is so high that for bonobos, erotic contact mixes freely with everything else they do. They can move quickly from eating to sex, from sex to play, from grooming to a kiss and so on. An example of this is the observation of females continuing collecting food while mounted by a male (de Waal 86). All this mixing of the sexual and social domains seen in bonobos is not the only difference between humans and bonobos sexual behavior.

Navarro 3 Another difference between bonobos and most humans comes when choosing sexual partners. While for humans it seems to be more common to be at the heterosexual end of the Kinseys 0-6 scale from hetero- to homosexual, bonobos seem totally bi, on a perfect Kinsey 3. In fact, there are no exclusively hetero-or homosexual bonobos (de Waal 98). Bonobos easily mix male-female copulation with same-sex sexual patterns. The most common of these patterns is a pseudo-copulation between females known as GG-rubbing, in which both females adopt a belly-to-belly position and rub their clitorises. On the other hand, males use to rub their rumps and scrotums together in a back-to-back position, which is called rump-rump contact (de Waal and Lanting 103). Furthermore, bonobos are literally pansexual, all of them engage in sex with virtually all kinds of partners (de Waal 98). When referring to all kind of partners are including not only the bisexual sexuality of bonobos but also other partner combinations that are considered taboo by humans. For example, in bonobos society adults and children have a lot of sex. In fact, infants are often initiated by their mothers. For bonobos the only partner combination that has been observed to be a taboo is females having sex with their sons older than six years old (Fielder and King 67). Here the difference in humans and bonobos sexual behavior ends. For both, bonobos and humans, sex is much more than an act needed for procreation. Bonobo females, like women, are sexually receptive throughout most of their cycle including the infertile portion of it (What is a Bonobo? and de Waal 92). However, this is not the only evidence that bonobos copulate not only for procreation but also for enjoyment (Baunach 138). Bonobos, like humans, have different erotic patterns that have nothing to do for reproduction. Probably the most recognizable humanlike erotic act among bonobos is mouth-to-mouth kissing, which is comparable to humans intense and passionate French kissing (de Waal 86). In this kind of kiss, one partner places his or her open mouth over that of the other, often with extensive tongue-

Navarro 4 tongue contact (de Waal and Lanting 103). Other erotic patterns that have nothing to do for reproduction are fellatio, in which a bonobo stimulate their partner penis using their mouth, and manual massage of others genitals (de Waal and Lanting 104). However, bonobos also enjoy their sexuality in solitude through self-masturbation, which is more common in adolescents males and adult females (de Waal and Lanting 104). All this shows that for bonobos, like for humans, pleasure and a variety of erotic patterns are a fundamental part of their sexual lives. Masturbation is a significant sexual pattern because it provides evidence that contrary to the Morris argument that orgasms are exclusively humans, it seems that female bonobos also experience them (de Waal 90). The fact that females routinely masturbate only makes sense if female bonobos experience some kind of pleasure while doing it (de Waal 90-91). Additionally, the sounds and facial expression of bonobos during sexual intercourse are also an indication that not only masturbation, but also sexual intercourse must be quite gratifying. During both coitus and GG-rubbing, females often utter characteristic screams and squeals; furthermore, females frequently bare their teeth in a pleasure grin during coitus, particularly towards the end when the male slows down for his final, deeper thrusts (de Waal and Lanting 104). All these reactions during sexual intercourse make it hard to believe that bonobo females do not experience orgasm. Bonobos mating is also similar to humans. Bonobos often adopt the missionary position, which has been considered restricted to humans and as a cultural advance, as well as other positions. Bonobos seem to know all the positions of the Kama Sutra and even some positions that are beyond our imagination. Bonobos apparently enjoy the face-to-face orientation and the possibility of emotional exchange that the missionary position affords. When two bonobos couple, they seem to be in exquisite harmony with their partner constantly monitoring their partner faces and sounds in order to regulate the speed of thrusting or rubbing to the response it elicits

Navarro 5 (de Waal 92). This suggests that bonobos are responsive not only to their own physiological feedback during copulation, but also to the subjective experiences of the partner (de Waal and Lanting 105). The enjoyment of their sexual partners is so important for bonobos that if the partner fails to engage in eye contact, or otherwise seems lukewarm, the two split (de Waal 92). Furthermore, the observation of a group of wild-caught bonobos at the Yerkes Primate Center suggests that bonobos may have developed gestures to talk about sex and use them to reach agreements about in which position they want to couple (McCarthy 138). For bonobos, just like for humans, the use of different sexual positions and the importance of communication and the partners satisfaction are the key point in their sexual intercourses. Humans and bonobos have more in common than their sexual behaviour. Bonobos social behaviour has a characteristic that was considered, until recently, an almost exclusive human trait: the generosity. Like children sharing their lunch in the playground, bonobos are likely to voluntarily share their most valuable good: their food. An example of this bonobos generous behaviour is an experiment in which a hungry bonobo was given the opportunity to eat alone or open the door of the adjacent room, where was another bonobo, in order to share its food with the other bonobo. The researchers found that they voluntarily chose to open the door and share the highly desirable food that they could have easily eaten alone (Bonobos opt to share their food). This experiment shows that humans are not the only animals that share their food willingly; therefore, that generosity is another characteristic that bonobos and humans share. Both bonobos and humans also have great empathy. Bonobos, just like humans, are able to empathise with other, this means that they are able to understand others feelings and needs. A good example of bonobos empathy was observed in the Milwaukee County Zoo, where Kidogo, a twenty-one year old bonobo, was feeble because of a heart condition. When the keepers urged

Navarro 6 him to move from one place to another he could not understand them and was extremely confused. When he uttered a distress call, other bonobos came to calm him down and took him by the hand to lead him to the right place (de Waal and Lanting 157). Although this is a good example of the bonobos ability to understand others feelings and therefore console and help them, bonobos empathy goes further. Just like humans, bonobos are very good at perspective-taking. Both bonobos and humans are able take the perspective of someone else and understand how different situations may affect the others. In fact, bonobos, just like humans, are able to recognise when others are in danger and try to help them. The most famous example of the bonobos empathy connected to perspective-taking was observed in the San Diego Zoo. There, when the zookeepers were going to refill the water moat in the bonobo enclosure after cleaning it, Kakowet, the old male of the group, started screaming and waving his arms at them to draw their attention. When the zookeeper looked at the moat, they discovered that some juveniles had entered the dry moat and needed help to exit. In order to help them to exit the moat, the keepers provided the young bonobos a chain to use as a ladder, however the smallest one could not get out of the moat and Kakowet went to help him. The interesting aspect of this story is that Kakowet was not in danger at all. He just perceived that filling the moat while the juveniles were there it would not be a good idea even though it would obviously not harm himself. These examples show the bonobos ability to adopt the point of view of someone else (de Waal and Lanting 158). Looking at this it is impossible to deny that although bonobos do not wear shoes, they have the ability put themselves in someone else's shoes just like humans do. Another trait that bonobos and humans have in common is that their empathy also leads them to like sharing their knowledge and teach new skills to the youngers. Kanzi, a bonobo that has been trained to understand spoken language, seems to realise that other bonobos do not have

Navarro 7 the same ability to understand what humans are saying and therefore, he occasionally takes upon himself to teach the illiterate. When scientists were trying to make Tamuli, a younger sister who has not been taught spoken language, respond to some verbal commands, she was not able to understand. In view of this situation, Kanzi acted out the meaning of the request; furthermore, when Tamuli was asked to groom Kanzi, he took her hand in his making her to do the requested action. Kanzi is perfectly able to understand when then commands are intended for him or for the other bonobos. In this case, he was not merely carrying out a command intended for Tamuli, but actually took her hand to get her to act upon himself. The sensitivity that Kanzi has towards his sisters lack of knowledge and the fact that he tried to teach her the meaning of the commands suggest a high level of empathy (de Waal and Lanting 159). This indicates that not only high levels of empathy, but also teaching the other new skills to help them to solve problems are other characteristics that humans and bonobos have in common. Bonobos are probably the species with the most similar sexual and social behaviour to humans'. Despite the fact that bonobos sexual behaviour may be considered overly promiscuous compared with most humans because of their pansexuality and because their sexual activities take place in public and are an important part of bonobos social life, the truth is that bonobos sexuality is very similar to humans'. Like for humans, for bonobos sex is not only about procreation but also about pleasure. Females of both species are sexually receptive outside their fertile period and also in both species some erotic patterns focused on their sexual enjoyment rather than reproduction are observed. Additionally, bonobos, like humans, enjoy mating in different positions favouring those that give them the opportunity to have some emotional exchange to ensure their partner satisfaction. However, humans and bonobos have more in common than their sexual behaviour, some traits, considered until recently exclusive in humans, like generosity, empathy and the ability

Navarro 8 to teach new skills to others have been found to be common among bonobos. All this similarities show that bonobos have a lesson to teach: humans are not the only animal on earth with some behaviours considered advanced and exclusively human until recently.

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Works Cited Baunach, Dawn. The Bonobos. Sex and Society. Vol 1. London: Marshall Cavendish Corporation, 2010. Web. 29 Feb. 2012. Bonobos opt to share their food BBC News. British Broadcasting Company. 25 Feb. 2011. Web. 1 March 2012. De Waal, Frans. Our Inner Ape. New York: Riverhead Books, 2005. Print. De Waal, Frans and Frans Lanting. Bonobo: The Forgotten Ape. Los Angeles: University California Press, 1998. Print. Fielder, Christine and Chris King. Sexual Paradox: Complementarity, Reproductive Conflict and Human Emergence. N.p., 2004. Web. 3 March 2012. Hominoid Psychology Research Group. Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Antropology. Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Antropology, 2012. Web. 1 March 2012. Lonsdorf Elizabeth, Stephen R. Ross, Tetsuro Matsuzawa and Jane Goodall. The Mind of the Chimpanzee: Ecological and Experimental Perspectives. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010. Web. 12 March 2012. McCarthy, Susan. Becoming a Tiger: How Baby Animals Learn to Live in the Wild. New York: HarperCollins Publications, 2011. Web. 12 March 2012. Raffaele, Paul. Among the Great Apes: Adventures on the Trail of Our Closest Relatives. New York: HarperCollins Publications, 2011. Web. 12 March 2012. Savage-Rumbaugh, Susan. The real-life culture of bonobos. TED Conferences, 2004. Web. 1 March 2012.

Navarro 10 What is a Bonobo? Bonobo Conservation Initiative. The Bonobo Conservation Initiative, 2002. Web. 1 March 2012.