Peaceful Apes Can’t Escape Congo’s War. The bonobo is one of the world’s rarest apes–a relatively
unknown, chimp-like species whose sole habitat is a patch of dense jungle in the Democratic Republic of Congo through which runs the front line of the Congolese civil war. The existence of this species came to the attention of zoologists only around 70 years ago. They are described as “relaxed, friendly,
female-dominated and far more interested in sex than in fighting
or brute competition.” Experts fear the bonobos — whose numbers were estimated at around 100,000 in 1980 but are believed to be as low as 10,000 now — are being poached
to near extinction for their meat; as a Belgian conservationist explains, “The armies
on all sides don’t get regular rations, so they eat the wildlife,
including bonobos. And now everybody in the forests have
access to automatic rifles, even the refugees.” ‘Bush meat’ is a delicacy too in Kinshasa. Now a makeshift orphanage struggles to save the species against dire odds.

“My friends think this is a crazy, dirty job. I tell them that bonobos
are just like us. They even are better than us. They are
peaceful. They don’t make wars.” Chicago Tribune