To celebrate Valentine’s Day and help humankind, Twycross Zoo in Leicestershire, England has launched The Bonobo’s Guide to Love.
Bonobos are a unique ape, operating in female-led communities, the zoo said in a press release. They are known for being caring and affectionate, and are quick to resolve conflict.
Twycross Zoo is the only zoo in the UK that houses a troop of bonobos. This troop forms 10 percent of the entire European population of bonobo.
The Bonobo’s Guide to Love is a compilation of behaviours practiced by bonobos in their troops to nurture familial, platonic and polyamorous relationships, engage in sexual relations, and resolve conflict.
Examples including giving gifts, communicating well, pampering each other, intimate acts, and making intentions clear.
Twycross Zoo ape keeper Anneliese Braidley said: “Humans share a common ancestor with bonobos, as well as more than 98 percent of the same DNA, making them our closest living relatives and potentially the perfect role models for improving human relationships.”
Zoo’s bonobo troop in conservation programme
She said: “Without the complications of modern dating life, bonobos maintain a focus on nurturing relationships, aren’t afraid to act on impulse and desire, and always find a way to resolve tensions that arise in their troop — behaviours that we as humans could all learn from.
“I’m lucky enough to work with them daily and see the amazing way they operate as a uniquely female-led species.
“So, is it a coincidence that World Bonobo Day falls on the same day as Valentine’s Day? Given bonobos’ loving nature, I don’t think so.”
Twycross Zoo’s bonobo troop is involved in a conservation programme to preserve the species’ global population due to its classification as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.
Last year, Twycross Zoo named Rebecca Biddle as its chief conservation officer.
Images courtesy of Twycross Zoo
The post Twycross Zoo celebrates Valentine’s Day with ‘Bonobo’s Guide to Love’ appeared first on Blooloop.