Pan paniscus

• Overview
• Interesting Facts
• Common Names
• Description
• Biology
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• More Info
• Further Reading
• Notes

Overview

Bonobos come from a small area of Zaire that is also the home of the Pygmy tribes , hence their name "Pygmy Chimpanzees." Nearly 80% of Zaire is covered by forest , and this forest that the bonobos call home is surpassed in surface area only by the jungles of the Amazon. In the wild it is hard to find bonobos because they are afraid of people. Bonobos live in a female dominated society and because of this the females can be more relaxed.

Previously Bonobos were not hunted because it was taboo to hunt or eat them. It is no longer taboo to hunt or eat them because the pgymies are also suffering from a lack of food and if they can be found they provide a good source of protein to a starving family . It is hard to get people to understand that an animal is endangered when they are starving. One thing in the Bonobos favor is they live in such remote areas that tracking them is hard, if not impossible.

The population in capitivity is so small that there isn't a large enough gene pool for much genetic diversity . There are two programs that coordinate breeding efforts : the Species Survival Plan in North America and the European Endangered Species Programme. The largest groups of Bonobos are found at the Dierenperk Planckendail, in Mechelen, Belguim and in the Milwaukee County Zoo.

Endangered

Interesting Facts

Common Names

Click on the language to view common names.

Description

Genus Pan

a large depression without an outlet , periodically flooded with water.

Physical Description

Habitat

Humid Rain forests .

Ecology: The entire range of bonobo distribution is characterized by moderate variations in elevation (300 to 700 m ). They inhabit a mosaic of primary and secondary forests , as well as seasonally inundated swamp forests, with a humid, stable climate. A single bonobo community (usually 30 to 80 individuals) occupies a home-range of 20 to 60 km² of forest, with extensive overlap between community ranges resulting in small core areas . Over 50% of their diet is comprised of fruits and seeds, with leaves, flowers, and piths , some of which provide considerable amounts of protein and other nutrients (Hohmann et al. 2006). Animal proteins deriving from both vertebrate (e.g. , duikers) and invertebrate prey (e.g., termites, caterpillars) are also ingested. Nests are built in trees at heights between 5 and 50 m (Fruth 1995). Both habitat and nesting preferences are pronounced, and ground nests have been reported (Reinartz et al. 2006). [1].

List of Habitats:

•     1     Forest   
  
•     1.6     Forest - Subtropical/Tropical Moist Lowland   
  
•     1.8     Forest - Subtropical/Tropical Swamp   
[more info]

Biology

Diet

Mainly fruit, but they will also eat insects, small mammals and fish.

Taxonomy

Synonyms

Pan paniscus Schwarz 1929

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name .

Last scrutiny: 30-Jul-2002

It is possible that the southeastern montane population could be a distinct species (marungensis).[1].

Similar Species

Some distinctions between Bonobos and Chimpanzees are as follows: 1. Bonobos are sensitive, lively and nervous, whereas chimpanzees are course and hot tempered. 2. Bonobos rarely raise their hair; chimpanzees often do so. 3. Physical violence almost never occurs in Bonobos yet it is common in Chimpanzees. 4. Bonobos are more vocal than chimpanzees. 5. While wild chimps generally knucklewalk around on all fours, bonobos walk upright for short distances. All Bonobos are excellent bipeds and often walk on two legs when carrying food.

Members of the genus Pan

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 7 species and subspecies in this genus:

P. paniscus (Gracile Chimpanzee) · P. troglodytes (Robust Chimpanzee) · P. troglodytes ellioti (Nigeria-Cameroon Chimpanzee) · P. troglodytes schweinfurthii (Eastern Chimpanzee) · P. troglodytes troglodytes (Central Chimpanzee) · P. troglodytes vellerosus (East Nigeria-West Cameroon Chimpanzee) · P. troglodytes verus (West African Chimpanzee)

More Info

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Further Reading

• Amis des Bonobos du Congo (ABC). 2005. Lola Ya Bonobo. La Conservation commence avec l'Education. Rapport Annuel.
• Baillie, J. and Groombridge, B. (comps and eds). 1996. 1996 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.
• Bonobo Conservation Initiative (BCI). 2007. Bonobo Survey and Information Exchange: Lopori, Lac Tumba, and Lilungu. Unpublished report to USFWS Great Ape Conservation Fund. Washington, D.C.
• Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP). 2005. The forests of the Congo Basin. A preliminary assessment .
• Cox, S., Rosen, N., Miller, P. and Seal, U. (eds) 1999. Bonobo Conservation Assessment: Workshop Report: November 21-22, 1999. Kyoto Univ. Primate Research Institute, Inuyama, Japan. IUCN/SSC Conservation Breeding Specialist Group.
• Dupain, J. and Van Elsacker, L. 2001. The status of the bonobo (Pan paniscus) in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In: B.M.F. Galdikas, N. Briggs, L.K. Sheeran, G.L. Shapiro and J. Goodall (eds). All Apes Great and Small Volume One: African Apes, pp. 57-74. Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.
• Dupain, J., Bofaso, M., Lompongo, J. and Van Elsacker, L. 2001. Bonobos at the market of Basankusu (Equateur Province, DRC) in 1999: new evidence for bonobos between the Ikelemba and Bosomba rivers. Pan Africa News 8: 2.
• Eriksson, J. 1999. A survey of the forest and census of the bonobo (Pan paniscus) population between the Lomako and the Yekokora rivers in the Equateur province, DR Congo. Unpublished thesis. University of Uppsala, Uppsala, Sweden.
• Eriksson, J., Hohmann, G., Boesch, C. and Vigilant, L. 2004. Rivers influence the population genetic structure of bonobos (Pan paniscus). Molecular Ecology 13: 3425-3435.
• Eriksson, J., Siedel, H., Lukas, D., Kayser, M., Erler, A., Hashimoto, C., Hohmann, G., Boesch, C. and Vigilant, L. 2005. Y-chromosome analysis confirms highly sex-biased dispersal and suggests a low male effective population size in bonobos (Pan paniscus). Molecular Ecology 15: 939-949.
• Fruth, B. 1995. Nests and Nest Groups in Wild Bonobos (Pan paniscus): Ecological and Behavioural Correlates. Aachen: Verlag Shaker.
• Furuichi, T. and Hashimoto, C. 2000. Post-workshop modeling report. In: S. Coxe, N. Rosen, P. Miller and U. Seal (eds). Bonobo Conservation Assessment Workshop Final Report, Apple Valley, MN: Conservation Breeding Specialist Group (SSC/ IUCN), pp. 47-51.
• Furuichi, T. and Thompson, J.A.M. (eds). 2007. The Bonobos: Behaviour, Ecology, and Conservation. Springer Publishing.
• Groombridge, B. (ed.) 1994. 1994 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland.
• Groombridge, B. (ed.). 1994. 1994 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.
• Hart, J.A., Grossmann, F., Vosper, A. and Ilambu, O. 2007. Range occupation and population estimates of bonobo in the Salonga National Park: Results of a large scale, multi-phase inventory. In: T. Furuichi and J.A.M. Thompson (eds). The Bonobos: Behaviour, Ecology, And Conservation. Springer Publishing.
• Hashimoto, C. and Furuichi, T. 2001. Current situation of bonobos in the Luo reserve, Equateur, democratic republic of Congo. In: B.M.F. Galdikas, N. Briggs, L.K. Sheeran, G.L. Shapiro and J. Goodall 9eds). All Apes Great And Small Volume One: African Apes, pp. 83-90. Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.
• Hilton-Taylor, C. (compiler). 2000. 2000 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.
• Hilton-Taylor, C. (ed.). 2000. 2000 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.
• Hohmann, G. 2000. Rapport de recherché d’une étude pilote. La socio-écologie des bonobos (Pan paniscus). ICCN / DRC.
• Hohmann, G., Fowler, A., Sommer, V. and Ortmann, S. 2006. Frugivory and gregariousness of Salonga bonobos and Gashaka chimpanzees: the abundance and nutritional quality of fruit. In: G. Hohmann, M. Robbins and C. Boesch (eds). Feeding Ecology in Apes and other Primates, pp. 123-159. Cambridge University Press.
• IUCN Conservation Monitoring Centre. 1986. 1986 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.
• IUCN. 1990. 1990 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.
• IUCN. 1996. African Primates: Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. Revised Edition. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.
• Inogwabini, B.I. and Omari, I. 2005. A park-wide distribution of Pan paniscus in the Salonga National Park, Democratic Republic of Congo. Endangered Species Update 22: 116-123.
• Inogwabini, B.I., Matungila, B., Mbende, L., Abokome, M. and Tshimanga, T. In press. The distribution of great apes in the Lac Tumba landscape, Democratic Republic of Congo. Oryx.
• Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature (ICCN). 2006. Parc National de la Salonga Factsheet No. 3. Système de Gestion d’Information pour les Aires Protégées. Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature, Kinshasa.
• Kingdon, J. 2001. The Kingdon Field Guide to African Mammals. Academic Press, London.
• Kortlandt, A. 1995. A survey of the geographical range, habitats and conservation of the Pygmy chimpanzee (Pan paniscus): Ecological perspective. Primate Conservation 16: 21-36.
• Lacambra, C., Thompson, J., Furuichi, T., Vervaecke, H. and Stevens J. 2005. Bonobo (Pan paniscus). In: World Atlas of Great Apes and their Conservation, pp. 82-96. University of California Press.
• Lee, P. C., Thornback, J. and Bennett, E. L. 1988. Threatened Primates of Africa: The IUCN Red Data Book. IUCN Conservation Monitoring Centre (CMC), Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.
• Lee, P.C., Thornback, J. and Bennett, E.L. 1988. Threatened Primates of Africa. The IUCN Red Data Book. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.
• Lokasola, A. 2007. Bonobo Survey and Information Exchange: Lopori, Lac Tumba, and Lilungu. Unpublished report to USFWS Great Ape Conservation Fund. Bonobo Conservation Initiative, Washington, D.C.
• Mace, G. M. and Balmford, A. 2000. Patterns and processes in contemporary mammalian extinction. In: A. Entwhistle and N. Dunstone (eds), Priorities for the Conservation of Mammalian Biodiversity, pp. 27-52. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.
• Mace, G.M. and Balmford, A. 2000. Patterns and processes in contemporary mammalian extinction. In: A. Entwhistle and N. Dunstone (eds) Priorities for the Conservation of Mammalian Diversity. Has the Panda had its day?, pp. 27-52. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
• Mohneke, M. 2004. Ecological approach and comparative methodology of density estimates of the bonobo (Pan paniscus) population of Lui Kotal, Salonga National park, Democratic Republic of Congo. Unpublished thesis. Rheinische Friedrich Wilhelms University, Bonn, Germany.
• Mohneke, M. and Fruth, B. In press. Bonobo (Pan paniscus) population density estimation in the SW-Salonga National Park, DRC: common methodology revisited. In: T. Furuichi and J.A.M. Thompson (eds). The Bonobos: Behaviour, Ecology and Conservation. Springer Publishing.
• Myers Thompson, J.A. 1997. The history, taxonomy and ecology of the bonobo (Pan paniscus) with a first description of a wild population living in a forest/savanna mosaic habitat. Unpublished thesis. University of Oxford, England.
• Myers Thompson, J.A. 2001. The status of bonobos in their southernmost geographic range. In: B.M.F. Galdikas, N. Briggs, L.K. Sheeran, G.L. Shapiro and J. Goodall (eds). All Apes Great and Small Volume One: African Apes, pp. 75-82. Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.
• Nishida, T. (ed.) 2003. Special issue on Bonobos. Pan Africa News 10: 2
• Oates, J.F. 1996. African Primates: Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group, Gland, Switzerland.
• Omasombo, V., Bokelo, D. and Dupain, J. 2005. Current status of bonobos and other large mammals in the proposed forest reserve of Lomako-Yokokala, Equateur Province, Democratic Republic of Congo. Pan Africa News 12(2): 14-17.
• Reinartz, G., Inogwabini, B.I., Mafuta, N. and Lisalama, W.W. 2006. Effects of forest type and human presence on bonobo (Pan paniscus) density in the Salonga National Park. International Journal of Primatology 27: 603-634.
• Scott, P. (ed.) 1965. Section XIII. Preliminary List of Rare Mammals and Birds. In: The Launching of a New Ark, pp. 15–207. First Report of the President and Trustees of the World Wildlife Fund. An International Foundation for saving the world's wildlife and wild places 1961–1964. Collins, London.
• Scott, P. 1965. Section XIII. Preliminary List of Rare Mammals and Birds. The Launching of a New Ark. First Report of the President and Trustees of the World Wildlife Fund. An International Foundation for saving the world's wildlife and wild places 1961-1964, pp. 15-207. Collins, London, UK.
• Steel, L. 2006. Salonga-Lukenie-Sankuru Landscape. Preliminary Results of Biological Inventories: May-September 2006. Inventories: May-September 2006. WWF-DRC unpublished report.
• Thompson, J., Hohmann, G. and Furuichi, T. (eds) 2003. Bonobo Workshop: Behaviour, Ecology and Conservation of Wild Bonobos. Inuyama, Japan.
• Thompson, J.A.M. 2002. Bonobos of the Lukuru Wildlife Research Project. In: C. Boesch, G. Hohmann and L. Marchant (eds). Behavioural Diversity In Chimpanzees and Bonobos, pp. 61-70. Cambridge University Press.
• Thompson, J.A.M. 2007. Pan paniscus. In: N. Rowe (eds). The Living Primates. Pogonias Press.
• Thompson-Handler, N., Malenky, R. and Reinartz, G. (eds) 1995. Action Plan for Pan paniscus. Report on Free Ranging Populations and Proposals for Their Preservation. Zoological society of Milwaukee County, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
• Van Krunkelsven, E. 2001. Density estimation of bonobos (Pan paniscus) in Salonga National Park, Congo. Biological Conservation 99(3): 387-391.
• Van Krunkelsven, E., Bila Isia, I. and Draulans, D. 2000. A survey of bonobos and other large mammals in the Salonga National Park, Democratic Republic of Congo. Oryx 34: 180-187.
• Wilson, Don E., and DeeAnn M. Reeder, eds. 1993. Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, 2nd ed., 3rd printing. Smithsonian Institution Press. Washington, DC, USA. xviii + 1207. ISBN: 1-56098-217-9.

Notes

Contributors

• Bisby, F.A., Y.R. Roskov, M.A. Ruggiero, T.M. Orrell, L.E. Paglinawan, P.W. Brewer, N. Bailly, J. van Hertum, eds (2007). Species 2000 and ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2007 Annual Checklist. Species 2000: Reading, U.K.
• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 30, 2012.
• Butynski, T. and Members of the Primate Specialist Group 2000. Pan paniscus. In: IUCN 2006. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. www.iucnredlist.org . Downloaded on 20 October 2006.
• Clark, M. A. WhoZoo.
• Fruth, B., Benishay, J.M., Bila-Isia, I., Coxe, S., Dupain, J., Furuichi, T., Hart, J., Hart, T., Hashimoto, C., Hohmann, G., Hurley, M., Ilambu, O., Mulavwa, M., Ndunda, M., Omasombo, V., Reinartz, G., Scherlis, J., Steel, L. & Thompson, J. 2008. Pan paniscus. In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloadedon 03February2012.
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Accessed March 03, 2008. http://www.gbif.org Mediated distribution data from provider.
• IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. . Downloaded on January 28, 2012.
• Ruggiero M., Gordon D., Bailly N., Kirk P., Nicolson D. (2011). The Catalogue of Life Taxonomic Classification, Edition 2, Part A. In: Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2011 Annual Checklist (Bisby F.A., Roskov Y.R., Orrell T.M., Nicolson D., Paglinawan L.E., Bailly N., Kirk P.M., Bourgoin T., Baillargeon G., Ouvrard D., eds). DVD; Species 2000: Reading, UK.

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal March 03, 2008:

• Borror Laboratory of Bioacoustics

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 109081
• Catalogue of Life Accepted Name Code: ITS-573081
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) Taxonomic Serial Number (TSN): 573081
• IUCN ID: 229632
• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Species Identifier: A06E
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 6459

Footnotes

1. Fruth, B., Benishay, J.M., Bila-Isia, I., Coxe, S., Dupain, J., Furuichi, T., Hart, J., Hart, T., Hashimoto, C., Hohmann, G., Hurley, M., Ilambu, O., Mulavwa, M., Ndunda, M., Omasombo, V., Reinartz, G., Scherlis, J., Steel, L. & Thompson, J. 2008. Pan paniscus. In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 03 February 2012. [back]

©2004-2012 David Stang. All rights reserved.