Hope for bonobos 21 Nov 2007 The African apes don’t get much good news these days. But the Congo has just announced they are setting up a preserve to protect the bonobo. The size of the Sankuru Nature Reserve is 11,803 square miles (in real money, 30 569.629 square kilometers), which makes it nearly half the size of Tasmania, or bigger than Massachusetts or Hawai’i. This is a cooperative venture between a partnership involving American and Congolese conservation groups and government agencies, and they are addressing the local practices of hunting bonobos as well. All bonobos in the wild live in the Congo. Hat tip John Hawks Ecology and Biodiversity Evolution Politics Species and systematics
Evolution The origins of agriculture now extended 28 Sep 200818 Sep 2017 Readers know I think religion is post-agricultural, which raises some difficulties if we find evidence of organised religious behaviours before the onset of agriculture. The case in point here being Göbeli Tepe. Now a recent model of the process of cereal domestication has set back the beginnings of agriculture some… Read More
Evolution Nature makes no leaps… 26 Jan 2008 Reacting to Jerry Coyne’s guest blog on The Loom, Brian Switek at Laelaps discusses, among other things, the objection to Darwin’s theories that Huxley put forward, both in personal correspondence and in print: The only objections that have occurred to me are 1st that you have loaded yourself with an… Read More
History The first biological species concept 10 May 200918 Sep 2017 Before this text in 1686, the term species just meant some sort or kind of organism. It was a Latin word in ordinary use without much meaning in natural history, but then arguments began whether or not there were one or more species for this or that group, and so… Read More
This report mentions that the reserve is also good news for the okapi, blue monkey, owl-faced monkey and others. “they are addressing the local practices of hunting bonobos as well.” I was a little bit concerned that this was just empty rhetoric but it turns out that lots of work has already been done. From here: Sally Jewell Coxe, president of the Washington-based Bonobo Conservation Initiation, said the group has been working to establish the reserve since 2005, when it started meeting with leaders in villagers that ring the area to persuade them to stop hunting the ape. Though local lore holds that washing a baby with the ashy remains of a bonobo will make the child strong, Coxe said many area villages have committed to ending the practice. “We have agreements with many of the local villages that are on the edges of the park, and they will be the managers and be very involved in it,” she said.
This is great news, the Great Apes have been under threat for years, now they will have to enforce the National Park to deter the bush meat trade. I trust they will be successful.