Baby Bonobo On the Way!

Posted February 13, 2015

Curator of primates announces that a baby bonobo is on the way                     

zanga
Zanga and Clara

CINCINNATI, OH (February 13, 2015) – Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden’s curator of primates, Ron Evans, picked today’s Valentine’s Day celebration as the perfect occasion to announce that 16-year-old bonobo “Zanga” is pregnant and due in March!

This is the Cincinnati Zoo’s 9th bonobo birth and Zanga’s second baby (pictured right with her first daughter, four-year-old “Clara”). The Cincinnati Zoo is one of only eight zoos in the country to exhibit bonobos. Sadly, there are few bonobos left in the wild and so they are considered the most endangered of the great apes.

Infant bonobos are born almost helpless and must be carried everywhere by their mothers for the first two years. A youngster stays close to its mother for several years while it grows and learns how to be a part of bonobo society.

Formerly called the pygmy chimp, the bonobo is slightly smaller than the common chimpanzee. Sharing more than 98% of its DNA with humans, the bonobo is our closest living relative. Like humans, bonobos live in family groups and are highly intelligent. Their diet consists of fruit, seeds, leaves, flowers, fungi, eggs, and small animals. Bonobos stand between 2.3 and 2.8 feet, and can weigh as much as 86 pounds.