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Lola ya Bonobo

ArchiveKinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo
About: Lola ya Bonobo is a archive organization based out in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Pan paniscus & Bonobo. The organization has 13 authors who have published 22 publications receiving 760 citations.

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is suggested that, despite particular features in terms of proximity to humans, language and bipedalism, bonobos do not display a laterality that is more marked or more similar to human handedness compared to that of other nonhuman primate species.
Abstract: The literature on manual laterality in nonhuman primates provides inconsistent and inconclusive findings and is plagued by methodological issues (e.g., small samples, inconsistency in methods, inappropriate measures) and gaps. Few data are available on bonobos and these are only from small samples and for relatively simple tasks. We examined laterality in a large sample of bonobos for a complex task. We tested 48 bonobos from Lola Ya Bonobo sanctuary (DR Congo) in an extension of our previous study of 29 bonobos from 3 European zoos. We assessed hand preferences using the tube task, which involves bimanual coordination: one hand extracts food from a tube that is held by the other hand. This task is a good measure of laterality and it has been used in other studies. We recorded events (frequency) and independent bouts of food extraction. We found significant manual laterality, which was not influenced by the settings or rearing history. We observed little effect of sex and found an influence of age, with greater right hand use in adults. The laterality was marked, with strong preferences and most individuals being lateralized (when analyzing frequency). We found individual preferences, with no group-level bias, even when we combined the data from the sanctuary and the zoos to enlarge the sample to 77. These first data, for a complex task and based on a large sample, are consistent with previous findings in bonobos and in other nonhuman primate species for a variety of tasks. They suggest that, despite particular features in terms of proximity to humans, language and bipedalism, bonobos do not display a laterality that is more marked or more similar to human handedness compared to that of other nonhuman primate species.

46 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The analyses indicate high levels of evolutionary constraint across much of the ejaculate combined with more rapid evolution of genes involved in immune defense and proteolysis, and general patterns of male reproductive protein evolution among apes and humans depend strongly on gene function but not on inferred differences in the intensity of sperm competition among extant species.
Abstract: The rapid molecular evolution of reproductive genes is nearly ubiquitous across animals, yet the selective forces and functional targets underlying this divergence remain poorly understood. Humans and closely related species of great apes show strongly divergent mating systems, providing a powerful system to investigate the influence of sperm competition on the evolution of reproductive genes. This is complemented by detailed information on male reproductive biology and unparalleled genomic resources in humans. Here, we have used custom microarrays to capture and sequence 285 genes encoding proteins present in the ejaculate as well as 101 randomly selected control genes in 21 gorillas, 20 chimpanzees, 20 bonobos, and 20 humans. In total, we have generated >25� average genomic coverage per individual for over 1 million target base pairs. Our analyses indicate high levels of evolutionary constraint across much of the ejaculate combined with more rapid evolution of genes involved in immune defense and proteolysis. We do not find evidence for appreciably more positive selection along the lineage leading to bonobos and chimpanzees, although this would be predicted given more intense sperm competition in these species. Rather, the extent of positive and negative selection depended more on the effective population sizes of the species. Thus, general patterns of male reproductive protein evolution among apes and humans depend strongly on gene function but not on inferred differences in the intensity of sperm competition among extant species.

43 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Analysis of the saliva microbiomes of chimpanzees and bonobos from two sanctuaries in Africa and from human workers at each sanctuary suggests that novel environments can have a large impact on the microbiome, and that microbiome analyses based on captive animals should be viewed with caution as they may not reflect the microbiome of animals in the wild.
Abstract: Background: It is increasingly recognized that the bacteria that live in and on the human body (the microbiome) can play an important role in health and disease. The composition of the microbiome is potentially influenced by both internal factors (such as phylogeny and host physiology) and external factors (such as diet and local environment), and interspecific comparisons can aid in understanding the importance of these factors. Results: To gain insights into the relative importance of these factors on saliva microbiome diversity, we here analyze the saliva microbiomes of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and bonobos (Pan paniscus) from two sanctuaries in Africa, and from human workers at each sanctuary. The saliva microbiomes of the two Pan species are more similar to one another, and the saliva microbiomes of the two human groups are more similar to one another, than are the saliva microbiomes of human workers and apes from the same sanctuary. We also looked for the existence of a core microbiome and find no evidence for a taxon-based core saliva microbiome for Homo or Pan. In addition, we studied the saliva microbiome from apes from the Leipzig Zoo, and found an extraordinary diversity in the zoo ape saliva microbiomes that is not found in the saliva microbiomes of the sanctuary animals. Conclusions: The greater similarity of the saliva microbiomes of the two Pan species to one another, and of the two human groups to one another, are in accordance with both the phylogenetic relationships of the hosts as well as with host physiology. Moreover, the results from the zoo animals suggest that novel environments can have a large impact on the microbiome, and that microbiome analyses based on captive animals should be viewed with caution as they may not reflect the microbiome of animals in the wild.

43 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is proposed that the current ‘standard’ paradigm has failed validation due to three methodological constraints and it is time to consider switching to a variety of more powerful and valid measures.
Abstract: Bonobos are the only ape species, other than humans, that have demonstrated prosocial behaviors toward groupmates and strangers. However, bonobos have not been tested in the most frequently used test of prosociality in animals. The current study tested the other-regarding preferences of bonobos in two experiments using the prosocial choice task. In the first experiment subjects preferred a food option that would benefit both themselves and another bonobo. This preference was likely the result of a location bias developed in the pretest since they showed the same preference in the non-social control condition within test sessions. A second experiment was designed to help subjects overcome this bias that might interfere with their social choices. Bonobos again did not prefer to choose the prosocial option. However, results suggest constraints of this paradigm in revealing social preferences. In discussing our results we consider why bonobos show robust prosocial preferences in other paradigms but not here. While others have suggested that such contradictory results might suggest interesting motivational or cognitive differences between humans and non-humans, we propose that the current ‘standard’ paradigm has failed validation due to three methodological constraints. Across the dozens of studies completed few have demonstrated that non-human subjects understand the causal properties of the apparatus, non-social biases quickly develop in inadequately counterbalanced pretests that typically explain subjects’ choices in the test, and even human children found this choice task too cognitively demanding to consistently show prosocial preferences. We suggest it is time to consider switching to a variety of more powerful and valid measures.

30 citations

Book ChapterDOI
01 Jan 2008
TL;DR: The best estimates of the current bonobo population in the wild are between 5,000-50,000 individuals; all live in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the only country in which they are found indigenously as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Have you been to a football game lately? Think of the last time you were in an arena that seated fifty or even a hundred thousand people. That many people can make a lot of noise, but of course only represent a tiny piece of humanity today. If we could convince all the bonobos in the world to attend such a game, you could not come close to filling even the smallest professional football stadium. Our closest living relative is slipping off the precipice; their extinction in our own lifetime is a real possibility. The best estimates of the current bonobo population in the wild are somewhere between 5,000–50,000 individuals; all live in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the only country in which they are found indigenously (Teleki and Baldwin 1979, Kano 1984, Van Krunkelsven 2001). While it might seem an administrative blessing to have bonobos concentrated in one single large country, this rare species still shares all the problems of population fragmentation, habitat loss, and victimization due to the bushmeat trade practice by their African cousins. In addition, by being concentrated in one country, this species’ survival is dependent upon the state of one single nation – for better or worse. The ubiquitous threats to African apes seem particularly acute in the case of the bonobo as a result of DRC’s ill fortune during the past decade. However, the DRC has begun recovering from a decade of wars and now has the chance to jump from an impoverished victim of an oft forgotten war between seven nations, to a regional power as it struggles to redevelop its shattered economy through what to many must seem like an infinite supply of natural resources (Clark 2002). What will the

25 citations


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Performance
Metrics
No. of papers from the Institution in previous years
YearPapers
20212
20202
20182
20171
20153
20141