Whats got to do

with it?
FROM: MEREDITH F. SMALLS ARTICLE OF THE SAME
NAME

Bonobos
- Scientific name: Pan paniscus
- a rare species of chimplike ape in which frequent couplings and casual sex
play characterize every social relationship:
male female
same sex
closely related animals
total strangers

- also known as pygmy chimpanzees but arent really pygmies but

welterweights
- live on only a small patch of land in Zaire,Central Africa
- often stand and walk in two legs
- more delicate in build; arms and legs are more slender than chimpanzees

Background

Bonobo

Chimpanzee

History
- 5 mya human beings and chimps shared a common ancestor
- bonobos diverged from chimps 2 mya
- human behavior in common with bonobos and chimps:
long period of infant dependency
reliance on learning what to eat
how to obtain food
social bonds persist over generations
the need to deal as a group with many everyday conflicts

History
- 1920s - Bonobos were first identified on the basis of skeletal material

Bonobo skeleton

chimpanzee skeleton

History
- 1970s their behavior in the wild was studied

Why study about bonobos?

- clues to the origins of human sexuality
- Australopithecines have body proportions similar to those of bonobos
- our heritage may very well include a primordial urge to make love, not war.
(connection between sex and social cohesion)
- assumption that chimp behaviour today may be similar to the behaviour of
human ancestors might be disproved
- bonobo behaviour offers another window to the past because they too
shared our 5-million-year-old ancestor.
- they have been less studied than chimps simply because they are hard to
find
- bonobos are the more appropriate ancestral model in the sexual arena.

Sexual Behavior of Bonobos

- Males and females frequently copulate face-to-face
- Sex is separated from reproduction; they treat sex as a pleasurable activity;
they basically have sex anytime they want.
- Sex is a sort of social glue
- juveniles also participate by rubbing their genital areas against adults
- sex decreases tensions caused by potential competition, often for food. The
sight of food triggers a binge of sex
- sexual behaviour also occurs after aggressive encounters, especially among
males.
Sex is a way bonobos deal with competition over limited resources and with the
normal tensions caused by living in a group.

Sexual Behavior of Bonobos

-Female bonobo sexuality isnt locked into a monthly cycle
-Females regularly use sex to cement relationship with other females
- Sometimes, females would rather GG-rub with each other than copulate
with a male
*GG- rub or Genital-genital rubbing is the most frequent behaviour used by bonobo
females to reinforce social ties/ relieve tension
*occurs in the presence of food

Sexual Behavior of Bonobos

- Females are the ones who leave the group when they reach sexual maturity,
around the age of eight, and work their way into unfamiliar groups.
- Female bonobos cannot be coerced into anything, including sex.
- The function is to form an alliance. These alliances are serious business
because they determine the pecking order at food sites.
- Bonobo females are not afraid of males and the sexes mingle peacefully.
(Egalitarian relationships)

Answers
1. A
2. C
3. C
4. A
5. C
6. C
7. D
8. C
9. A
10. C