Our Cousins Are Sick

Bonobos, along with chimpanzees, are our closest living relatives. Unfortunately the entire species has dwindled down to a few thousand survivors, all in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This morning I got a worrying email from Vanessa Woods, a bonobo expert who’s at a bonobo research facility in DRC:

In the last month, a flu epidemic has hit the bonobo sanctuary where we work: Lola ya bonobo (www.friendsofbonobos.org). It is the only bonobo sanctuary in the world, with over 60 orphans from the