Mystique came back. She’s the dog that lives on the chicken farm next door and everyone calls her Mystique because she appears out of nowhere and then disappears. Her foot had been caught in an antelope snare and the wire had cut so tightly into her paw the flesh had healed around it.
Brian cut the knot and pulled it out, a perfect circle. It must have been incredibly painful, having a noose around your limb that cuts into your flesh so severely that soon it becomes part of you.
It happens to chimps and bonobos all the time. Except the wire gets so tight their hands and feet become gangrenous and fall off. At a field site in
Mystique looked better after we pulled out the wire. Except then Luozi, the little punk in the nursery, chased her into the forest
Today I had a new one. Mwanda jumped on my shoulders, wrapped her arms around my head and tried to push her clitoris in my mouth. I didn’t let her. But I was so shocked I nearly yelled at her and that would have been a big mistake. Here is Mwanda and her rogue clitoris.
Tory has seen heaps of oral sex during her tests. Today Isiru touched the clitoris of Lukaya with her mouth. Yesterday it was Kikongo and Malou. The day before it was someone else.
It cracks me up because humans think we’re so inventive and original with all our sexual activity. Bonobo champion Prof. Frans de Waal saw quite a bit of bonobo oral sex. Brian said he saw a photo in a de Waal lecture and it got him interested in bonobos. Some scientists said de Waal's bonobos only had oral sex because they were in a zoo enclosure with nothing better to do. Well, these bonobos aint in a zoo - they live in a 35 hectare forest and they still do it plenty.
Today Vanga tried to pickpocket Yvonne.
But she forgave him because you can’t be mad at someone this cute.
5 comments:
That brazen Mwanda!
What is the hair plucking situation at Lola? So many zoo bonobos are almost completely bald.
Enjoying your postings.
Charles
Thank you for this excellent blog featuring science and dirty-talking. We are following your trip closely at the Mr. Sun blog, where these two topics are house favorites. I am personally fascinated to learn all about things which I normally don't come into contact with, like Bonobo and clitorises. Keep up the great work!
Hey charles, lukaya is a main culprit, she has pulled out nearly all malou's hair. Several of the femlaes also engange in slightly excessive grooming.
i agree, it's common to see bald bonobos in zoos, but it's also common to see corpophagy (poop eating), rocking, and scratching, none of which happens here.
hi mr sun! i'm glad to here you like the blog. i was worried i had gone to far tellign the mwanda story, but people outta know!!
Had a laugh at Mwanda's antics!...thank god you are not too prudish to document this sort of stuff!( btw if you had yelled at her ..what would have happened?...are bonobos supersensitive or something?)
How old is Mwanda? Is that a normal sized Bonobo clitoris when not in heat?...or is it because she is a juvenile?
i didn't want to yell b/c that would mean opening my mouth and lettign the clitorus in. i'm not prepared to go that far for research yet.
bonobo females have the largest clitoris i've ever seen on an ape, including humans. and they just get bigger as the girls get older.
when they're in oestrus, they have sweelign syou can see on some of my other picutre. big swollen pink things to send out the 'i'm ready' message.
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