Bonobo II

Bonobo II, 2021
Yulia Shtern, Endangered/Extinct/Enslaved Series
6 1/2 x 4 3/4 x 3 1/2 “
upcycled materials, glue, varnish
380

Bonobo, along with chimpanzees, are our closest existing relatives, sharing a 98.7% of their DNA with humans. Although looking similar to chimpanzees, they are a different species, and are usually smaller and darker in colour. Their social groups are female-led, and tend to be peaceful.
The only place bonobo can be found in the wild today is the south of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The bonobo are listed as endangered, and their population is projected to decline.
According to a recent study by the University of Zurich, the vocal communications of bonobos were found to extensively rely on compositionality, the ability to
combine meaningful informational units into sentences, the meaning of which is dependant on the combined meaning of its components.
This was previously thought to be a feature exclusive only to human speech.
Conservation status: endangered. Threats to existence: commercial poaching, habitat destruction