Bonobos: Encounters in Empathy

by Jo Sandin

Thought you knew all the great apes? Here's one many people don't know: the bonobo. This is the ape most like humans. It often walks upright, understands human sentences, plots politics worthy of Machiavelli, and shows empathy for other creatures. In bonobo culture, the females dominate and the norm is "make love, not war."

Unfortunately, the only bonobos living in the wild inhabit a country where war and its devastating aftermath threaten their survival. Learn how the Milwaukee County Zoo in the heart of the Midwestern United States became home to the largest group of captive bonobos outside Democratic Republic of Congo, their native habitat. Discover how an empathetic female zookeeper created ways to communicate with them and improve their lives. Then follow a female researcher from the Zoological Society of Milwaukee (Wisconsin) to the heart of Africa, where this small Midwestern non-profit set up a research station and became a pioneer in saving bonobos by working directly with villagers.

This is a tale of powerful females and empathetic males from two species learning a lot from each other.

109 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2007