The Bonobo chimp is a lot like a human, which this partially NSFW video demonstrates: Bonobos sometimes walk upright, and they even sometimes have sex facing each other. The BBC lady in this doc also seems to think that they’re also capable of being inspired by the beauty of a majestic waterfall, which supposedly makes them humanlike, but I am skeptical. (News flash, English lady: Swinging on a rope in front of a waterfall is AWESOME and even a dead termite would have fun doing it and you don’t need a fancy BBC science degree to figure that out.)
But yeah, back to the sex: Bonobo society is driven by sex, especially sex for pleasure. Bonobos even have gay sex—if not full-on intercourse, frottage and scissoring and so forth. Tonight, OMSI hosts another edition of Science Pub at the Mission Theater, and the topic is “What’s Love Got to Do with It: Sex for Social Bonding in Bonobos.” University of Oregon Primatologist Dr. Frances White hosts the event, and there’s sure to be plenty of talk about hot monkey sex*, at least more than your typical Tuesday. According to the Mission Theater’s page, there was a talk exactly one year ago to the day on this topic which sold out, so you might want to arrive early.
*sorry, ape sex
Mission Theater, 1624 NW Glisan, doors 5 pm, program 7 pm, FREE, all ages (minor w/adult)
Maybe they should call it the Missionary Theater. Ahem.
Once saw a doc about Bonobos and Chimps. National Geographic or Nova or something. Don’t remember.
Anyway, was interesting to see the differences between the two species, especially conflict resolution: where two chimps might resort to violence, the bonobos got it on.
Meaning they had sex.
With each other.
“Apes” may not even be correct. They are more genetically similar to humans than they are to the other “great apes”, gorillas and orangutans.
I’ve never met another “human” who has sex to resolve disputes. If that shit is normal please tell my wife.
I think a lot of human primates resolve disputes through sexual endeavors, but not all. Many a time when a female is scornfully rebuked by her partner, sometimes she will gleefully try to seduce her mate back into his good graces by gentle kisses, or by sexual intimacy. I see no differences with the Bonobo.
While the Bonobo may be chimp-like, they certainly emulate human activity very well. The recent disclosure of the primate/sub-human Ardipithcus, certainly a bi-pedal evolutionary model, seems to gravitate towards a more Bonobo-like posture. The hip flanges of Ardi, make the bi-pedalism of his kind, an evolutionary exclamation. With the Bonobo, does these human-like qualities exist?
I wonder how the Chimpanzee and Bonobo would co-exist in a closed environment? Would the Chimp catch on? Would the Chimp start walking upright, carrying sticks? Or, would the two breeds brawl? It would be an interesting observation.