Africa's Bonobos: Running Out of Time?

Africa's bonobo (Pan paniscus), the last of the great ape species to be discovered by science, may well be running out of time. Thats because the latest survey by AWF's team in the Democratic Republic of Congo indicates Africa's bonobos face a variety of threats to their long term survival.

Threatened by the loss of their rainforest habitat and an escalating bushmeat trade, bonobos are in serious trouble. Burgeoning human populations, civil unrest, international logging concessions and global markets for illegal wildlife trade are all taking a toll.

Against this momentum, saving Africa's bonobos is not something AWF can accomplish single-handedly. But working with other conservation and development organizations and consortiums like the Bushmeat Crisis Task Force, AWF has made the survival of Africa's bonobos one of our top priorities.

Among the Great Apes

Bonobos, chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans are members of the great ape family. Once thought to be a subspecies of chimpanzee, the bonobo (Pan paniscus) is sometimes still referred to as the pygmy chimpanzee. It is, however, a different species altogether.

Like chimpanzees and gorillas, bonobos are closely related to humans, sharing 98.4 percent of our genetic makeup. Their similarity to humans has long been noted by indigenous Congo Basin peoples, whose legends tell of bonobos showing men what foods were available in the forest.

Threats to Their Survival

Today, the bonobo's range is limited to about 350,000 square kilometers in the central African nation of Democratic Republic of Congo. An area slightly smaller than Montana, this habitat is increasingly fragmented by slash-and-burn agriculture and logging. Unlike that of the mountain gorilla, however, only a small portion of the bonobo's habitat is currently protected, and unsustainable commercial hunting is a major threat. While local people have always depended on bushmeat to provide protein in their diets, the scale of hunting has escalated dramatically.

For example, large international logging companies shipping African timber to global markets employ commercial hunters to supply their employees with bushmeat. Once their logging roads and trails cut through pristine forests, poachers gain easy access to formerly remote habitats. As the trade in bushmeat escalates it takes a devastating toll on bonobos and other bush species as well.

What AWF is Doing

AWF's Congo Heartland lies in the heart of bonobo territory. Here, AWF has a conservation plan aimed at mitigating threats to bonobos. Already we have secured a three-year grant from a federal international development agency. With these funds -- which must be matched annually by private donors -- we are moving quickly forward. AWF's Congo Heartland coordinator and primatologist Jef Dupain has surveyed key areas of bonobo habitat and local communities have been polled on how their needs might fit within conservation goals. Based on this and other data, we are now charting a realistic conservation agenda.

In addition to basic antipoaching support, AWF also aims to promote viable protected areas for bonobos, improve the management of logging concessions, and foster the kinds of sustainable community enterprises that will benefit local people and alleviate their overwhelming dependence on bushmeat species for protein.