Bonobos

Bonobo (© Flickr/DORIS META F)

Bonobos, known for years as “pygmy chimpanzees”, are now recognised to be a separate species of primate, and one of our most intriguingly close relatives. They are particularly loved for a special form of conflict resolution—frequent sex as the solution to just about every problem—which experts now believe may have developed as a female strategy to protect the young.

Our speakers include leading primatologists: Frans de Waal of the Living Link Center at Emory University in Atlanta, Professor Barbara King of William and Mary College in Williamsburg, Virginia, and Dr. Susan Savage-Rumbaugh of Georgia State University.

Producer: Anne Blair Gould

Broadcast: November 1993