Remember Kanzi – the amazing bonobo that knows over 360 symbols on his lexigram and understands English? We’ve just learned some new cool things about him…see if any of them sound familiar:

• He loves to play Hide-n-Seek.
• He loves to play Keep Away.
• He loves to play video games – Ms. Pacman is his favorite.
• He loves to pretend. For example, he pretends that he eats all of the peaches (drawings) on Georgia license plates!

And, Kanzi isn’t the only one. Many of the bonobos at the Great Ape Trust are competent in English now enabling us to learn more and more about them and to interact with them on a deeper level every day…

Of course, there are things that separate us from bonobos - but, we’re always fascinated by the similarities we find.

UPDATE: Whoops, can’t believe we forgot to mention this…Fame and talent run in the family- Kanzi is Lucy’s brother!!!

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If you said ‘NO’, then you were right! They can’t actually swim, but they love to play in the water. Check out these incredible pictures from Lola Ya Bonobo by adventure photographers Julie Calvert and Adam Bates of Shutter Speed Travel.

This bonobo is taking a nice stroll in the river…



They also have this funny habit of drinking upside down…could be for fun because bonobos are famous for their silly antics or could be for safety so that only the smallest bit of themselves is in the water. 

This sweet female bonobo actually gave a civet (a little wildcat) a bath in the river. Julie thought it was a baby bonobo, but when she got closer with her camera lens, she saw that it was a completely different species! This bonobo doesn’t have any babies of her own yet, looks like she’s practicing!

Julie and Adam have pretty cool jobs, traveling all over the world and taking pictures of wild animals. Soon, we’ll be posting an interview that we did with them after their trip to the DRC where they spent a few weeks taking these amazing photos of the bonobos at Lola Ya Bonobo Sanctuary. Wait till you hear their stories…they had bonobos sitting in their laps!!!

Here’s one more precious pic…

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We just got an email, inspired by yesterday’s post, asking if we would travel to any school to read I‘m Lucy and present Marian Brickner’s amazing bonobo slide show…the answer is 99% YES!!!

We’d love to hear from you, find out where you are and talk about coming to your school. Just send us an email or give us a call to let us know the details. There is nothing we love more than sharing Lucy and her family with kids…but we do need to find out how far away you live and coordinate everything with our schedules.

We can’t wait to hear from you!!!

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Marian Brickner, our fearless photog, is at it again! She just brought I’m Lucy: A Day in the Life of a Young Bonobo to the Child Care Center in St. Louis where she serves as a board member…and the kids LOVED it.

I tried to pick just one picture to share with you all, but I can’t…so here they all are.

The first one is my absolute favorite - I think that page in the book is hilarious too:

It just doesn’t get any better than this!!!

Thanks, Marian for the great pictures and for sharing Lucy and her bonobo family with these awesome kids!

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We are pretty psyched for this! On May 31st, Jivamukti Yoga School and Reality Sandwich will co-host, and Wynne Paris will produce a benefit for the Bonobo Conservation Initiative at the Jivamukti in Manhattan. BCI’s co-founder and president, Sally Jewell Coxe, will give a presentation, and musicians, Tony Levin and Wynne Paris and others will perform.

We are thrilled to be invited, and Mathea Levine, author of I’m Lucy: A Day in the Life of a Young Bonobo will be on hand to sign books and spread the word about all things bonobo and kids.

It isn’t exactly a kid event, so NYC kids - send your parents!!! Tell them it will be an amazing night!

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We just found a recent interview with Jane Goodall by Copley News, and we couldn’t resist sharing the link with you. She talks about Chimpanzees, conservation, the environment and the importance of YOU. Her youth organization, Roots and Shoots, is highlighted as well. Don’t forget, Roots and Shoots receives half the profits (along with BCI) from the website sales of our book, I’m Lucy: A Day in the Life of a Young Bonobo.

Check out this awesome interview: Jane Goodall Interview

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So, your birthday is coming up – in the next year anyway – and it’s time to decide on your theme. Let’s see…what if you planned an eco-friendly themed party?!?
I’m sure you all have awesome ideas about how to pull this off, but we’ll get the list going…Please write us with your ideas so that we can share them with everyone!

1. Use recycled or biodegradable paper plates, napkins and cups – or even better – use reusable plates, napkins and cups so that you don’t have to throw them away at all.
2. Make your cake and other treats from organic ingredients.
3. Give special party favors to guests that ride bikes or use public transportation to travel to your party.
4. Get outside and make your main activity something that involves the great outdoors like rock climbing, biking, the zoo, sledding, hiking or swimming.
5. Request that guests don’t wrap your presents to save paper – you can keep the element of surprise alive by wearing a blindfold and trying to guess each present.
6. Give a gift. We are all so used to getting things for our birthdays, but why not thank the world for making every day so great! We think a great gift would be a copy of I’m Lucy or a donation to a worthy cause.

Okay. Your turn. What would you do for your GREEN BIRTHDAY PARTY???
We can’t wait to hear!!!

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This is a great question that a visitor to the blog just asked us. The answer is important for everyone to know.

The answer is NO. And not because we don’t want to, but because when you buy I’m Lucy: A Day in the Life of a Young Bonobo anywhere other than this blog or our home site, Bonobo Kids, there are no profits to donate, there is no money left for the bonobos after we’ve paid for our printing and our staff.

Here’s how it works: bookstores (actual stores that you walk into) and online bookstores (like Amazon) buy books at ‘wholesale’ prices which means they get a 50% discount on each book. Then, the booksellers sell the book at ‘retail’ prices (100% or what you pay), and they use the profits to run their stores, pay the staff, make the atmosphere fun and cozy, promote books and their store, etc. Of course this makes sense and is how businesses operate.

Most books are produced or printed for well under that 50% wholesale price, so the authors and publishers still make a profit when they sell their books to bookstores at this discount. In this way, the system works.

I’m Lucy is different. #1. I’m Lucy includes high quality photography that is too expensive to publish through normal channels. #2. The goal of I’m Lucy is to donate profits to organizations working to save the bonobos and our world.

If the book were sold through Amazon, the retail price would have to be raised to $40 so that at the 50% wholesale price to Amazon there would be enough money left for a small profit for Bonobo Kids and the bonobos.  But at a $40 retail price, few people would buy such an expensive book.

In response, Bonobo Kids has ‘cut out the middle store’ in order to give the bonobos the maximum amount of help while still meeting our expenses. When you buy I’m Lucy from our site, we are able to donate a substantial profit to Jane Goodall’s Roots and Shoots and the Bonobo Conservation Initiative (BCI) and keep our lovely, little organization alive!

Make sense? Feel free to contact us if you have more questions!

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Have you ever noticed that when your house or school gets painted, it smells terrible? Well, it isn’t just affecting your nose. Most paints use solvents that are toxic; they’re called Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) and they have been know to cause cancer and to generally make people sick.

Thank goodness for Mythic Paints. This new paint is Zero VOC, Zero Carcinogens, 100% non-toxic, earth friendly, animal friendly, bonobo friendly and kid friendly. And it works - beautiful colors, paint that sticks to walls - the whole deal!!!

So, why are we talking about paint on the Bonobo Kids site? Because the more we can do to inform you about the good, helpful, safe stuff in the world…and the more we can convince the entire world to use safe products and practice good environmental behaviors, the better off we will all be, and the better off bonobos will be. Don’t forget - we are all connected.

Save the bonobos and save the world the next time you decide to paint your room or your parents decide to redecorate the house…go to www.mythicpaint.com! And tell your local paint store to do their part by carrying Mythic Paint in their store.

Thanks Mythic Paint for being so darn smart!

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It’s true – you do learn something new everyday. What we learned today is that even though the United States, as a country, celebrates Arbor Day on the last Friday in April (as proclaimed by President Nixon in 1970) – each state, and many other countries, has established its own Arbor Day - and they are all happening right around now. It’s springtime, and the trees are blooming.

But what is so great about Arbor Day? Is it just about planting trees?

Actually, it is all about planting trees! Planting trees protects the environment by canceling out some of the harmful impacts of climate change.

How does it work?
Trees absorb carbon dioxide (CO2), one of the main gases causing global warming, and in turn trees release oxygen into the atmosphere. They clean up the air and they make it healthy for all living creatures. Forests are in second place, behind oceans, when it comes to helping with the CO2 overload - one acre of forestland holds between 150 - 200 tons of CO2 in its first 40 years. As a result, planting new trees remains one of the least expensive, most effective (and most beautiful) means of drawing extra CO2 from our atmosphere.

Go plant a tree.
Cheap and good for the environment? We LOVE it! So plant a tree - for arbor day or because every day is Earth Day. PLANT A TREE, SAVE THE BONOBOS, SAVE THE WORLD!

And…send pictures of you with your tree(s)! You know we love photos of you doing great things!

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