Talk:Bonobo

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This article probably needs fact-checking.

response: it's current as of the most recent National Geographic specials, "Social Climbers". As bonobo numbers are down 50% in the past 5 years, it seems unwise to wait for the researchers profiled to return from the woods to write papers.

On the name 'bonobo': I "read somewhere" (a respectable popular science book but I'm blowed if I can remember what) that the reason for the name 'bonobo' is unclear, and might have been an error from the name of a town on a packing crate used to export a specimen. The writer suggested that the correct name in a local Bantu language was elya, plural bilya. This is fascinating to me as a linguist (I'd love to import some Bantu plurals into English), and elya reminds me of Eloi -- but I can't justify putting it into the article without finding that book again. No confirmation on Web search. Has anyone else seen this and can add it and the source? Gritchka 09:58 Feb 21, 2003 (UTC)

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I've heard that adult bonobos have sex with child ones as well. Could somebody talk about age in sex? Things like several kinds of sex relations are limited to certain types of partners,... What about incest? -- Error

In my college anthropology course, I was told that there are all varieties of sexual behaviors between all of the members of the species. I think there might be a few things that don't really happen, but I'm not sure what. —Mulad 14:28, 5 Feb 2004 (UTC)

I remember seeing a BBC documentary about bonobos where it was stated that their only taboo was sex between a mother and a son below a certain age (4 years?) I wouldn't like to write it up without being more confident of what was said. Rls 00:43, 19 Jul 2004 (UTC)

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On the news today that these should be moved into the "human family" (whatever that means, the BBC dumbs down a lot these days). anyone know more about this? -- Tarquin 18:27 20 May 2003 (UTC)

A proposal that's been around for a few years, boosted this month by new research showing that functional genes are something like 99.5% identical (as opposed to non-coding DNA, which has mutated more freely). This is said to be enough to justify calling humans, chimpanzees, and bonobos members of the same genus (what they meant by 'family' there). As the name Homo has date priority over Pan, they'd become Homo troglodytes and Homo paniscus. It also throws out all the hominid names: genera Australopithecus, Ardipithecus, Paranthropus necessarily become part of the same genus Homo. But others argue that the differences between humans and the rest justify such a division, humans forming one clade and the rest forming a paraphyletic grade. Gritchka 16:38 29 May 2003 (UTC)

Mating with homo sapiens

I hear that this genus can mate with homo sapiens. Is that correct? Does anyone have more information? massa 07:22, 6 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Any genus can mate with any other genus, if they want to. You've heard about shepherds and sheep, right? Or do you mean successfully bear young? RickK 22:35, Nov 6, 2004 (UTC)

Diet and numbers

Estimates suggest there are 10 000 to 100 000 bonobos left in the wild - numbers are pretty uncertain; but the occasionally quoted estimate of 5 000 derives from a miscalculation. 50 000 seems possible Reference: Thompson, J., Hohmann, G., Furuichi, T. (eds) (2003) Bonobo Workshop: Behaviour, Ecology and Conservation of Wild Bonobos. Inuyama, Japan.

Group size ('tribe' in the text): can be 30 to 100 or so.

Diet: as the text implies, bonobos are primarily frugivores, not herbivores. Otherwise the page looks spot on.

Flit, 25 Nov 2004.

Primates and Oral Sex

Bonobos are NOT the only non-human apes to have been observed engaging in oral sex. Orangutan males routinely perform oral sex on females before engaging in sexual intercourse.

I forget the exact chapter, but this was noted in Carl Sagan's (coauthor: Ann Druyan) Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (ISBN 0345384725), in one of the middle chapters... Sagan also includes excellent references in the Notes section of the back of this book. I will attempt to locate the exact source of this observation.

UPDATE: I have located the exact reference:

In Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, page 281 (Chapter 15: Mortifying Reflections): ...cunnilingus is an almost invariable part of foreplay among the orangs... Sagan provides the following reference: B.M.F. Galdikas, "Orangutan Reproduction in the Wild," in C.E. Graham, editor, Reproductive Biology of the Great Apes (New York: Academic Press, 1981), PP. 281-300.

--260 21:05, 17 Dec 2004 (UTC)

I believe you are correct. I have Bruce Bagemihl's Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity (BE) (ISBN 1-86197-182-6). Bagemihl notes Orangs, Common Chimps and Gorillas generally doing about the same kinds of things, but in various degrees and variations, although Bonobos do a bit more and a bit more often, and in more variety. I'm trying to find a way to edit all of the species articles here that BE covers without overwhelming the articles. Also, I'm not sure the article was saying the Bonobos are the only apes other than humans to perform cunnilingus. I believe the point was that they are the only ones besides us to do all of the listed activities. However, I'm not sre how accurate that is. I might go through BE and make a spreadsheet documenting the sexual activities of the great apes. - UtherSRG 21:07, Dec 17, 2004 (UTC)