Chimpanzees & Bonobos: The Congo's Great Apes
The forests around Kisangani and across the DRC hold more great apes than anywhere on earth — chimpanzees in the Ituri and bonobos in the Congo south — and their fate is inseparable from the forest's
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Chimpanzee Forest Meetings
Chimpanzee communities live in the forests around Kisangani – their tool use, complex social bonds and vocalizations (including territorial drumming on support roots) make encounters extraordinary
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Bonobo: The Peaceful Great Ape
Bonobos are found only in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, south of the Congo River — matriarchal, highly sexual and conflict-averse, they are the ape most genetically similar to humans and least understood by science
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Sankuru Bonobo Reserve
Sankuru Nature Reserve protects the largest bonobo habitat in the Democratic Republic of Congo - established in part by the local Mongo people who consider bonobos forest relatives and ban their hunting
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Great Ape Orphan Rescue
The bushmeat trade and habitat loss are creating orphaned chimpanzees and bonobos — rescue centers in the Democratic Republic of Congo are providing sanctuary and eventual forest reintroduction for these orphaned primates
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Forest Connectivity for Apes
Great ape conservation requires forest corridors — the fragmentation of Congo Basin forest through logging for roads and agriculture is the primary threat to chimpanzee and bonobo populations
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Research at Wamba Field Station
The Wamba Research Station in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been studying the same bonobo community since 1974 - the longest continuous study of great apes in Africa, revealing the depth of bonobo social complexity