oakstave

This is fascinating to me, I am so glad you are doing this.

I have been studying bonobos while writing a science fiction story. Most studies emphasize the gentle nature, overt sexuality and matriarchal structure. Other papers I've read indicate that the level of meat-eating, aggression, and sexuality is quite similar between bonobo and chimpanzee.

Do you have any insights into this issue? Are bonobo and chimpanzee essentially the same social structure, or are there real differences?

Edit: I am enjoying the links.

How optimistic are you for the future of the species? I read very little positive news about conservation these days...

Wow, I didn't know that.

What are the essential differences you see between 'captive' chimpanzee traditions and 'wild' chimpanzee traditions?

Thanks for the reply. That matches my reading on the issue, it was really one study only that appeared to cast some doubt on it.

Have you been involved in any cross-species language studies with great apes? (Use of lexigrams, etc.)

If I may set up a question: Apes are not able to speak due to the difference in voice box biology. Apes can't do the velopharyngeal closure needed, and have the wrong mouth and tongue structure for 'human-like' spoken language.

So we communicate with the great apes with variants of ASL, and lexigram word boards...

How much of the 'native' chimpanzee language is verbal, as opposed to body language? Have you ever attempted, as Jane Goodall did, to emulate their language in a group?

Given their intelligence, I'm often at a loss why they didn't develop spears, more permanent dwellings, rain shelters... etc.

But I think you hit it on the head, where they live/evolved, that pressure simply wasn't there.

It makes me think some terrible things must have been happening to early hominids for us to evolve to our current form!