A rare sanctuary in Congo looks after baby bonobos away from poaching threat

LOLA YA BONOBO, Congo– Micheline Nzonzi cradled a little sleeping bonobo, an orphan whose life she will try to save over the next three years.

The 1-year-old’s chances are good, with maternal affection, bottled milk, and frequent play with other babies.

“Without me, without us, these bonobos cannot survive,” said Nzonzi, a bonobo foster mother for 24 years. “They survive on human affection.”

This primate nursery on the forested outskirts of the Congolese capital Kinshasa is the world’s only sanctuary for orphaned bonobos, usually rescued from poachers or found trapped in the homes of locals who raise them for their meat.

Although great apes like the endangered bonobos are legally protected from hunters, they are still targeted to satisfy demand for bushmeat in areas far beyond the Congo Basin, a vast rainforest that is sometimes called Earth’s second lung. The bushmeat trade ranges from rodents to antelope, but a totem ape like the bonobo can fetch a higher price.

“Bonobos are in danger. We educate people not to kill bonobos,” explains Arsène Madimba, educator at the Lola ya Bonobo sanctuary. “We can’t kill them, we can’t bring them home as pets, we can’t eat them. Because of poaching, we can see a large trade in orphaned bonobos across the country.”

Bonobos raise their babies for four to five years. Their short reproductive cycle makes them vulnerable to environmental disturbances. To protect them and their habitat, Congolese authorities last year raised the idea of ​​issuing “bonobo credits”, similar to carbon credits, to reward communities who preserve forests. The program has not yet taken off.

“There is a cultural difference” between Congo and neighboring Uganda, where monkeys are not hunted for their meat, said primatologist Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka, founder of the Uganda-based group Conservation Through Public Health. “In Congo, we believe that we can become as strong as (the primate eaten).”

There are dozens of adult bonobos at Lola ya Bonobo. Some have lived there since 2002, when this sanctuary opened its doors under the sponsorship of a conservation association known by its French name Les Amis des Bonobos du Congo.

The nursery also has 11 young bonobos, the most recent arriving earlier this year. Each baby is matched with a foster mother who will care for it for years before being able to transfer it to groups of bonobos open to visitors.

On rare occasions, a Lola ya Bonobo animal eventually returns to the wild, which can take years of preparation.

Bonobos share nearly 99% of their DNA with humans and, along with chimpanzees, are our closest living relatives.

In the 1980s, primatologists estimated that there were about 100,000 bonobos left in the wild. Their number is now estimated at around 20,000, an astonishing drop. The bonobo is primarily threatened by the bushmeat trade, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

The bonobo’s natural habitat is an area of ​​dense equatorial forest south of the Congo River. Bonobos are rarely studied in the wild, and much of what is known about them comes from studies in foreign zoos and from foreign researchers drawn to this fascinating creature.

The bonobo was first identified as a possibly distinct species in 1929, when German anatomist Ernst Schwarz noticed a difference in the skull of a specimen thought to be an adult chimpanzee with an unusually small head. Schwarz’s rival, an American zoologist named Harold Coolidge, would later provide detailed descriptions that led to the bonobo being classified as a distinct species in 1933.

The bonobo is relatively well-known among Americans, in part due to its reputation as one of the most intelligent, peaceful and empathetic animals. They might even have a capacity for imagination, according to a study published in 2025 by Johns Hopkins University.

Bonobos are led by females and are notable for their apparent lack of sexual jealousy. When two groups meet, females can change sides without provoking a fight, unlike chimpanzees and gorillas. They can initiate casual mating, which occurs so frequently, so intensely, and with such a variety of styles that bonobos are described as the “hippie apes.”

In Kinshasa, the primate meat trade has become clandestine. Traders need a license to hunt antelope and other species, but the trade in “macaques” is banned in part to prevent the spread of zoonotic diseases like Ebola.

“I used to sell monkeys, but now we can’t sell monkeys, any type of monkey,” said Charles Ntanga, a vendor at Masina market.

Ntanga brandished a fly whisk to swat flies that landed on the rancid carcass of a giant rodent in front of him, a kilo costing about $17. Guyva Mputu, the vendor next to him, was selling python, whose frozen flesh was beginning to smoke in the humid weather.

Baby bonobos captured by poachers are used to lure adult bonobos, who are shot when they come to investigate the noise, said Madimba of Lola ya Bonobo.

Orphaned bonobos bond with their keepers, who can often identify them by name, said zookeeper Frank Lutete, whose role is to feed the animals. He paddled across the water to distribute papaya while the bonobos made noise, descending from the trees to collect his offerings.

Some bonobos thank him, he said, patting his chest in gratitude.

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