Congo Sanctuary Raises Orphaned Bonobos

At the world's only sanctuary for orphaned bonobos on the forested outskirts of Kinshasa, Congo, foster mother Micheline Nzonzi cradles a 1-year-old orphan, providing the bottle feedings and affection essential to its survival over the coming years.

"Without me, without us, these bonobos cannot survive," said Nzonzi, who has cared for the endangered primates for 24 years. "They survive thanks to human affection." The Lola ya Bonobo nursery, opened in 2002 by the nonprofit Les Amis des Bonobos du Congo, rescues infants from poachers or local homes where they are kept as pets or raised for bushmeat. It currently houses 11 young bonobos, including one that arrived earlier this year, along with dozens of adults. Each orphan is paired with a human caregiver who nurtures it for three to five years before integration into visitor-accessible groups. In rare cases, prepared animals return to the wild.

Bonobos, which share nearly 99 percent of their DNA with humans and rank as our closest living relatives alongside chimpanzees, inhabit dense equatorial forests south of the Congo River. Their population has plummeted from an estimated 100,000 in the 1980s to about 20,000 today, primarily...