Tag Archives | bonobos

Great Ape Populations Dwindle As Illegal Trade Thrives

March 6, 2013

(ANIMAL TRADE) According to a UN report released this week, nearly 3,000 great apes are killed or captured in the wild each year because of the thriving illegal trade—usually to be sold as exotic pets, bought by disreputable zoos, or exploited by tourism. The study also revealed that approximately more than 22,000 great apes were lost to the illegal animal trade between 2005 and 2011. This comes as startling news considering that the international trade in chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, and orangutans is currently banned under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). Read on to learn more about the illegal animal trade’s devastating effects on great ape populations. — Global Animal

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This Chimp Ready To Rule The World? (VIDEO)

August 24, 2012

(ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE) Is the rise of the planet of the apes here? Already a master of sign language, Kanzi, a bonobo (formerly called pygmy chimpanzees), has moved on to creating and using tools in a new way. Although not a novel feat for the highly intelligent bonobos, the variety and technical sophistication of the tools Kanzi has created is startling. These tools are remarkably similar to those shaped by early Homosapiens 2.5 million years ago. Read on to learn more about how close our closest relatives really are to rising up and taking over. — Global Animal

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Want To Talk To Apes? There’s An App For That

April 5, 2012

(ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE) A project from the Bonobo Hope Great Ape Trust Sanctuary is looking for funding to finish a project that hopes to facilitate communication with bonobos. Since apes don’t speak, researches are teaching them to tap symbols on a touch screen to represent their ideas. Humans could then speak into the application, and their words would be translated into symbols. Read more on this new research, and how it can illuminate the curious topic of what animals are thinking. — Global Animal

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