Chris på The Intersection (som
höll oss informerade om cyklonen Sidr ifjol) har en medbloggare
som heter Sheril. Sheril har en väninna som heter Vanessa Woods, och som
just har återvänt till Kongo, där hon forskar om den
utrotningshotade bonoboapan. Bonoboapan står lika nära oss
människor som chimpansen; båda har nästan samma DNA som vi. Men bonobo
lever inte likadant som chimpansen. Så här sa Vanessa
Woods i en intervju tidigare i år:
”We're trying to find out what it is that makes us human. At the moment, we have a very chimpanzee-centric model of society (male dominated, aggressive, murder, war, females get beaten, infants get killed) but we have another cousin, equally closely related to us (98.7% DNA), who is female dominated and lives in a much more peaceful society. We want to find out how much of us is bonobo, how much of us is chimpanzee and how much of us is uniquely human.”
En annan sak som är speciell med bonoboaporna är deras fantastiska sexliv. Vanessa igen:
”Imagine a relative who thinks sex is like
a handshake. Who organises orgies with the neighbours, doesn’t mind
if their partner sleeps around, and firmly believes females should be
in charge of everything. Imagine there was a whole tribe of these
relatives – crazy yes? But definitely a lot of fun.”
Så inleder hon den blogg från Kongo – Bonobo Handshake – som hon nu för andra året dragit igång. Titta dit, vet ja.
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