With never-before-seen video, primatologist Isabel Behncke Izquierdo (a TED Fellow) shows how bonobo ape society learns from constantly playing -- solo, with friends, even as a prelude to sex. Indeed, play appears to be the bonobos' key to problem-solving and avoiding conflict. If it works for our close cousins, why not for us?
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As the grizzled matriarch of the Chimpanzee Refuge, it behooves me to call attention to tonight's Nova: The Last Great Ape. Our close cousins, Pan paniscus, the bonobos, are featured.
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Reprinted from Wildlife Conservation Magazine
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I have always enjoyed reading the work of Frans de Waal, a primatologist who focuses on the social structure and psychology of apes, particularly the two chimp species, and monkeys. His previous books, Good Natured: The Origins of Right and Wrong in Humans and Other Animals, The Ape and the Sushi…