BONOBO

The bonobo's similarity to humans has long been recognized by the indigenous people who have resided with bonobos for thousands of years. Their legends tell of a bonobo saving a man's life, how the bonobos showed man what food was available in the forest and how bonobos have tried to become human.
The species is best characterized as female-centered and as one that manages and diffuses tension through sex, making agression less common than with chimpanzees. Whereas in most other species sexual behavior is a fairly distinct category, in the bonobo it is part and parcel of social relations - and not just between males and females. Bonobos engage in mating in virtually every partner combination (although such contact among close family members may be suppressed). And sexual interactions occur more often among bonobos than among other primates. Despite the frequency of mating, the bonobo's rate of reproduction in the wild is about the same as that of the chimpanzee. A female gives birth to a single infant at intervals of between five and six years.
Compared to the chimpanzee, and like humans, bonobos have relatively longer legs, shorter arms, and a narrower trunk. The skull sits upright on the spine, and they have smaller canine teeth. There is sexual dimorphism in the canines where the males' are longer than the canines of the female. They are distinguished from chimpanzees by their black face and red lips from birth, two or three webbed toes, a tail tuft that persists into adulthood and forwardly rotated female genitals. The pelage color is black and may turn more of a grayish color with age. The average body mass for an adult male bonobo is around 85 pounds, and for the female it is around 65 pounds. Compared to chimpanzees, they have slightly smaller head and ears and a smaller brow ridge. The hair on their head is parted in the middle and long hairs sweep out from the sides of their faces, mostly covering their ears.


.