Thursday, September 1, 2016

This Bonobo Should Humble All Of Us

Yesterday's post dealt with our troubling capacity for human supremacism, a capacity that is destroying our world. This seems a fitting followup:



You can read about this bonobo here.

2 comments:

  1. Hi Lorne....I'm glad you admire the bonobos because they are a remarkable species, and we might be quite different if our early ancestors had socialized with them instead of the chimpanzees . For their society is a much more peaceful one. It is dominated by females and characterized by their extraordinary level of sexual activity. They often greet each other by pleasuring each other. And so shocking was their behaviour to the Victorian explorers who came upon them, that the record of what they witnessed was suppressed for years. You can read about more of that here.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonobo#Sexual_social_behavior

    Tragically they are an endangered species, but I think you'll agree they are definitely worth saving...

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    Replies
    1. Hi Simon. I have seen a couple of documentaries on this remarkable ape. As you say, their habits are the epitome of that old saying, "Make love, not war." In this they stand in sharp contrast to chimpanzees, who seem to much prefer to invert the order of the above.

      It breaks my heart when I consider how we are so heedlessly driving such species to the brink of extinction. I think, both with their matriarchal structure and their practices, our species could learn much from them, if we only took the time to notice them.

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