Bonobo: The Forgotten Ape

The bonobo, least known of the great apes, is a female-centred, egalitarian species that has been dubbed the "make-love-not-war" primate by specialists. In bonobo society females form alliances to intimidate males, sexual behaviour replaces aggression and serves many social functions, and unrelated groups mingle instead of fighting. The species's most striking achievement is not tool use or warfare, but sensitivity to others. Focusing on social organization, this text compares the bonobo with its better-known relative, the chimpanzee. The bonobo's relatively nonviolent behaviour and the tendency for females to dominate males confront the evolutionary models derived from observing the chimpanzee's male power politics, co-operative hunting and intergroup warfare. Further, the bonobo's frequent, and imaginitive sexual contacts, along with its low reproduction rate, belie the notion that the sole natural purpose of sex is procreation.