Bonobos: our endangered 'cousins' in the heart of the Congo basin

The bonobo (Pan paniscus) was the last great ape to be discovered and are the least-known great ape species Photograph: Frans Lanting/Corbis

Bonobos are found only in the Democratic Republic of Congo and inhabit the heart of Africa's Congo Basin Photograph: Phil Ball/Rex Features

Their habitat is increasingly threatened by logging, bushmeat hunting and agriculture Photograph: Finbarr O'reilly/Reuters

Bonobos walk bipedally, on two feet, more easily and for longer periods of time than the other apes Photograph: Frans Lanting/Corbis

Bonobos are known for their peaceful, cooperative, matriarchal society, their remarkable intelligence and their sexual nature Photograph: Goran Tomasevic/Reuters

Apart from humans, bonobos are the only primates known to have sex not just for procreation, but also for pleasure and conflict resolution, with members of either sex Photograph: Martin Harvey/Corbis

The Kokolopori Bonobo Reserve project has been largely supported by the Global Conservation Fund and the Central Africa Programme of Conservation International, which provide both financial and technical support plus other donors Photograph: Frans Lanting/Corbis

Bonobos are humankind's closest relatives, along with chimpanzees Photograph: Karl Ammann/Getty Images

Indigenous people who have dwelled among bonobos in the Congo forest have many legends about how bonobos and man were brothers in the distant past. They tell stories about how bonobos showed people what foods to eat in the forest, how a bonobo saved a man who needed help, how bonobos themselves are trying to become human Photograph: Frans Lanting/Corbis

Bonobos were not discovered by scientists until 1933, and even then, not alive, but in the Tervuren Museum in Belgium, identified by means of a skull Photograph: Martin Harvey/Corbis

Bonobo apes groom one another at a sanctuary just outside capital Kinshasa Photograph: Finbarr O'reilly/Reuters

Bonobo apes rest at a sanctuary just outside Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo Photograph: Goran Tomasevic/Reuters

Two bonobo females engage in a sexual greeting Photograph: Frans Lanting/Corbis

Bonobos and people share 98.4% of the same genetic make-up (DNA). Bonobos and their cousins, the chimpanzees, are more closely related genetically to us than they are to gorillas Photograph: Issouf Sanogo/AFP/Getty