Why do bonobos eat their poop

Bofenge Bombanga, a powerful-looking shaman from the Mongandu tribe clad in a loincloth and headdress made from dried hornbill beaks, leads a welcoming dance. Afterward, in one of many tribal fables I will hear about the bonobos, he tells me that a village elder was once trapped high in a tree after his climbing vine came loose—and a passing bonobo helped him down.

But others say the taboo on bonobo meat is not observed in some areas. As a Congolese bonobo conservationist named Lingomo Bongoli told me, "Since the war, outsiders have come here, and they tell our young people that bonobo meat gives you strength. Too many believe them. Soldiers—rebel and government—were the worst offenders. His group is working to establish a bonobo reserve on the 1, square miles of Kokolopori that are home to an estimated 1, bonobos.

It also funds cash crops such as cassava and rice and small businesses such as soap-making and tailoring to deter villagers from poaching. On day seven, after a tough trek scrambling over fallen trees and across slippery logs, we finally see what I have come all this way to see—bonobos, nine of them, part of the member group known to local researchers as Hali-Hali.

The first thing I notice is the animals' athletic build. At the Frankfurt Zoo, even males had the slim, elegant stature of ballet dancers, but jungle males are broad shouldered and well muscled, and the females too are bulky.

As he sits high on a limb munching fistfuls of leaves, the alpha male exudes dignity even though he's the one who threw feces at me. Above us in the canopy, young and old bonobos are feasting. A male juvenile lies in the crook of a tree with one leg dangling down into space and the other resting at a right angle on the trunk, like a teenager on a sofa.

Two females stop eating for a few moments to rub their swollen genitals together. My heart stops as a youngster casually steps off a branch maybe 30 yards up and plunges toward the forest floor through branches and leaves.

About ten yards before crashing into the ground, he grabs a branch and swings onto it. I'm told by the trackers that this death-defying game is a favorite among young bonobos, and invariably concludes with a wide grin on the acrobat's face. Suddenly, the alpha male puckers his pink lips and lets loose a scream, a signal for the troop to move.

He leads the way, hurtling from tree to tree just below the canopy. I stumble beneath them, trying to keep up, banging my head into low branches and tripping on vines spread like veins across the forest floor. After about yards, the bonobos settle into another clump of trees and begin stripping branches and shoving leaves by the fistful into their mouths.

About noon, they go to sleep. When they wake after a couple of hours, the bonobos come down onto the ground, in search of plants and worms, moving so swiftly through the forest that we see them only as blurs of dark fur. I spy a female walking upright across a moss-covered log, her long arms held high in the air for balance like a tightrope walker.

As the setting sun paints the rain forest gold, the alpha male sits on a branch high above me and swings his human-like legs, for all the world appearing to be deep in thought as the sun slips below the canopy rim.

Later in the week, I follow the Hali-Hali group for 24 hours. I see that they spend much of the day feeding or dozing. At night, they settle in a clump of trees high in the canopy and build their springy nests, yanking leafy branches and weaving them into resting places.

Chimps build night nests too, but theirs are not as elaborate as bonobo cradles, which resemble giant bird nests. Their chatter drifts away, and by 6 p. The trackers and I retreat for half an hour through the jungle. I crawl into a one-man tent, while the trackers sleep in the open around a fire they keep going all night to ward off leopards.

A female swings to the next tree and rubs genitals with another female for about a minute, squeaking, while a male and a female, balanced on a bough, mate face to face, her legs wrapped around his waist. An hour later the troop swings off into the jungle. No one knows exactly why bonobos have sex so often. This website uses cookies to improve user experience. By continuing to use our website you consent to all cookies in accordance with our cookie policy. Share on Facebook. Share on Twitter.

Plants and Animals. Most rabbit owners don't see cecotropes, mostly because rabbits "eat them straight from the anus," Alvarado said. Once they gobble down the cecotropes, lagomorphs can digest the nutrients on the second pass, she said. If a rabbit stops eating normal food, or if it refuses to eat its night feces, that's an indicator that the critter isn't feeling well, and should be brought to a veterinarian.

Many baby animals — including elephant and hippo calves — eat feces from their mothers or fellow herd members when they're transitioning from drinking their mother's milk to eating solid foods, Amaral said.

Devouring this fecal matter helps babies establish healthy bacterial communities in their guts, which, in turn, aids normal digestion, Alvarado said. Even mammoth babies ate their mother's dung. An autopsy of a 42,year-old baby female mammoth named Lyuba revealed that she had ingested adult mammoth feces. Take a look at these 10 fun facts! The Team Our Board. Annual Reports.

All cool stuff Media Inquiries. Get in Touch Book a Presentation.