A Day with the Bonobos…

Promises to keep.! One is often burdened with the heavy responsibilities that come along with this seven letter word- Promise! This one was made early this week to my 5.5 year old son. Visit to Bonobos reserve park this Sunday! And I couldn’t escape the ordeal of driving some 30 kms away from the city to visit this reserve park for Bonobos. In the bargain , I missed out on my tennis and the mutton Biryani.

While my son had made elaborate plans which ranged from peanuts and bananas for Bonobos and marsh mellows, chips, juice and sandwiches for the visitors, I was more keen on the 3 kilometer trek through the woods.

And the bag had to be prepared the evening before ! Yes we went to the super market at 9 pm to ensure we had stuff which suited the pallete of the mighty Bonobos, The peanuts at home were summarily rejected by Rudra because they were spicy and the bonobos might not relish that!!

Bonobos- 98% of the genetic imprint is like homo sapiens . Could see that; They could peel off bananas in a more dexterous manner than me! . Found only in the Congos – precisely to the south of river Congo, They were elevated to a species status in early 20th century. Till then they were considered to be from the family of chimpanzees and are still popularly known as pygmy or dwarf chimps.

The most amazing thing which I noticed when a bonobos spread its palm to take a banana from Rudra- The presence of heart line, head line and a life line – akin to the human palm…

Are palmists and astrologers listening…

I kept trying hard to delve into the 2 % difference in the genetic imprint from the Homo sapiens .. I couldn’t observe a thing till the guide enlightened me –

When the Bonobos have a disagreement with each other they tend to hug or share food instead of having a fight. Bonobos have never been observed to KILL each other.

How different from the Homo Sapiens!!