Imagine a soccer team where the players refuse to work together. Each of the players wants to score a goal but they insist 1. on doing it their own way, and 2. that the other players are getting in their way. We think this scenario would look like this: members of the same team are trying to take the ball from each other, running in opposite directions, getting hurt, becoming angry…and ultimately losing sight of the ball, their teammates and the goal.

Wow. That’s pretty messed up, don’t you think?

Sadly, this is a theme that can be seen throughout the world. Whether people are on the same team trying to create positive change in their community or country, save the environment or even save the bonobos, within their efforts they lose sight of who they are trying to help, who their helping partners are and their final goal of freedom, a healthy world or protected bonobos.

With so many talented people working so hard to make this world a better place, imagine if differences and personal agendas could be set aside! Imagine if we all worked together - a united front.

Do you have any real life examples of when you worked alone, and it was hard, versus working as a team, when your efforts were successful?

Tell us about your experiences, we’d love to hear them.

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We just heard from Sue Savage-Rumbaugh that she isn’t the only one enjoying her copy of I’m Lucy: A Day in the Life of a Young Bonobo! Apparently, she gave the book to Kanzi and Panbanisha and they LOVE it. How amazing is that!!! We hope, hope, hope that we get pictures to share with you soon!!!

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This is the story of our gifted photographer, Marian Brickner’s, journey to Lucy - the star of our book, I’m Lucy: A Day in the Life of a Young Bonobo, and it is the second part of our interview - read part 1 here.

After I read, The Forgotten Ape, I started to look for bonobos in United States zoos. I found out that there is a whole family tree of bonobos starting with Linda, who arrived in 1962. I began to take my idea about using photography to change people’s perceptions about hurting other beings and transform it again. I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be fun if I could do something photographically to show kids that bonobos have families, how much they are like us.’ I hoped that would help them be interested in wanting to help bonobos.

I went to the Milwaukee Zoo first to see Linda and take her picture. I wanted to take pictures of her whole family, so then I went to Fort Worth, Texas to take pictures of Linda’s son, Kevin. When I arrived back at the Milwaukee Zoo with Kevin’s picture, Linda’s keepers couldn’t believe it. “He looks just like his mom!”

Next, I went to San Diego to try to take pictures, and tried to talk to the keepers and take more pictures, but it was very difficult. They were so busy and kept asking, ‘Who are you?’

Then, I had a thought, no one wants to hear doomsday information about the environment. People, myself included want to be inspired and motivated. We want fun and happy. I realized, what could be more fun and happy than children of any kind - so I started looking for bonobo kids to photograph.

So, I tried another zoo that had bonobos - the Jacksonville Zoo. I called ahead of time and talked to a wonderful man named Craig. He was so welcoming and told me to come on down. He said he couldn’t wait to meet me.

When I arrived, the first thing I noticed about the bonobo exhibit was that there is no glass so taking pictures is easier and the photos are better. And, then I saw Lucy…and then Kaleb…and the whole family. It was perfect.

This is the very first picture I took of Lucy at the Jacksonville Zoo. The family portrait. She melted my heart, and I hope she melts yours too.

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The long awaited interview with our very own photographer of the acclaimed children’s book, I’m Lucy.…here’s Marian Brickner!

Bonobo Kids: How did you first learn of bonobos?

Marian: I read the amazing book, The Forgotten Ape by Frans de Waal & Frans Lanting. Instantly, I was struck by 3 things:

1. How did I not know about bonobos? How are bonobos not as familiar to us as chimpanzees, elephants and lions?
2. Bonobos have no documented infanticide (killing of their young) within their species which is a huge leap evolutionarily speaking. Chimpanzees do have infanticide.
3. I knew that I had to do something to introduce kids to these incredibly apes. I had to spread the word.

BK: How did you become a photographer?
Marian: I went to a school in New York called Fieldston, the ethical culture school. We talked about the ethics of every situation. For instance, in kindergarten, we read the story about the three little pigs and talked about things like, ‘Why did the pigs split up? Why did only one pig have access to bricks?’

I went to that school from Pre-K to high school, and my plan was always, ‘how can I do things to make things life better for all people, to be an agent of positive change?’

I loved photography, So I adapted this plan to it, and it transformed some.  Photographically, my mission became this: ‘to stop people from hurting each other’. One of my mentors told me to take pictures every single day to get good. So for six years, I took pictures every day…and I felt great about my skill and I was ready to start applying my mission.

I had this idea that people killed insects because they just thought of them as ‘bugs’, they had no perception of them as individuals. So I began taking pictures that captured insects looking right into my lens. The effect was that there was a face, an individual, an individual going about his/her daily life. I thought that by showing people these images, they could make the leap from insects to people. They would see that just because that person, or bug, doesn’t look like me, they are still individuals and their lives have value.

Coming soon…find out how Marian found bonobos, and most importantly, how she found Lucy!

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Apparently, bonobos have gone through several names over the years, but Delfi Messinger, Director of Animal Programs at the Jacksonville Zoo, has an important message about the danger of calling them ‘pygmy chimps’ which many people still do.

The word ‘pygmy’ refers to size. It means that whatever animal is being referred to as a ‘pygmy’ is defined as very small. What Delfi has seen happen, when she was monitoring the trafficking of bonobos and chimpanzees out of the Congo, is that people capture baby bonobos and then call them ‘pygmy chimps’ which leads the buyer to think that they are full grown, but miniature and will stay cute, small and adorable forever. This is not the case, of course, the baby bonobos grow up and get big and strong (though they’re always cute)  - and then, people don’t want them anymore creating scenarios for neglect and abuse of bonobos.

Help save the bonobos by educating your family, friends and community. Bonobos are bonobos - they’re a little smaller than chimpanzees, but they are not miniatures or pygmies.

Save the bonobos. Save the world.

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Barack Obama has an entire portion of his site dedicated to kids - it’s called Kids for Obama. Even though you aren’t allowed to vote just yet, there are many things that you can still do. Of course, because these ideas came from Obama’s campaign, they focus on spreading the word about Obama. If you feel that McCain is the better candidate, you can substitute his name.

10 Ways Kids for Obama can get involved:

• Create a Kids for Obama Group on My.Barackobama.com. For example, Chicago Kids for Obama or DC Kids for Obama and throw a party!
• Write a letter or editorial to your local news paper, expressing “Why Barack Obama should become the next US President”.
• Find a Pen Pal - it could be in your school, city, state, or another state. Write and discuss different ways you can get involved.
• Draw a picture of Senator Barack Obama or “an expression of Democracy”. For example, the Senator sitting in the White House or working on Capitol. Hill. You can send your drawing to the Obama for America Campaign Headquarters in Chicago and it will be posted for the Senator to see.
• Implement T-Shirt Thursday. Get friends to wear an official Obama for America T-Shirt to school.
• Take an adult (voting age) to the polls on Election Day and encourage them to vote for you, by voting for Senator Obama.
• Post an official Obama for America Campaign sticker/logo on your school bag.
• Wear an Obama for America Campaign button and/or clothing.
• Host a Senator Barack Obama House Party or sleep-over.
• Contribute to the Kids for Obama Blog.

What do you think of this list? Do you have any of your own ideas to add and share? We’d love to hear them!

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This picture taken by Marian Brickner is of Lucy’s Aunt Louise and her son Virgil looking into a frozen bucket of Kool-Aid at the CIncinnati Zoo. When we first saw the picture, we thought it looked like the bonobos were laughing, so we asked Marian about that day.

She told us, “They ARE laughing. The Kool-Aid had sunflower seeds and raisins in it, they eventually got it all out - in bucket form.”

Louise is the younger sister of Lorel (Lucy’s mom). Virgil is 11 years-old here and Louise is about 34.
We love her hand on his back.

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In the wild, bonobos can only be found in one place, the Democratic Republic of Congo. In the DRC, bonobos face violence, war, hunting, habitat destruction and a growing environmental crisis that endangers their lives everyday. Several organizations are working hard to help save the bonobos from extinction including the Bonobo Conservation Initiative, Roots & Shoots, Lola Ya Bonobo Sanctuary and zoos across the world.

Zoos play a critical role in educating people about bonobos and ensuring the survival of the species. From the conversations that we have had with some zoos that have bonobos, we understand that every one of the bonobo-inhabited zoos realizes the treasure that they have to protect. They work together for the good of these special apes. Here is a list of the zoos in the United States and Europe that currently have bonobos. If you are lucky enough to live near bonobos, GO VISIT THEM! Support the zoo that supports the bonobos. And, in case you haven’t heard, Lucy lives at the Jacksonville Zoo.

United States

Cincinnati Zoo, Cincinnati, OH

Columbus Zoo, Columbus, OH

Great Ape Trust, Des Moines, IA (not officially a zoo!)

Fort Worth Zoo, Fort Worth, TX

Jacksonville Zoo, Jacksonville, FL

Memphis Zoo, Memphis, TN

Milwaukee Zoo, Milwaukee, WI

San Diego Zoo, San Diego, CA

San Diego Wild Animal Park, San Diego, CA

Europe

Planckendael Belgium

Apenheul Primate Park, Apeldorn, The Netherlands

Berlin Zoo, Berlin, Germany

Frankfurt Zoo, Frankfurt, Germany

Köln Zoo, Köln, Germany

Leipzig Zoo, Leipzig, Germany

Stuttgart Zoo, Stuttgart, Germany

Twycross Zoo, Leicestershire, England

Wuppertal Zoo, Wuppertal, Germany

If you have been to any of these zoos, we’d love to hear all about it!!!

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As I promised yesterday, here is Delfi’s story of bonobos meeting in the Zoo. Delfi is the Director of Animal Programs at the Jacksonville Zoo and was instrumental in allowing our photographer, Marian Brickner, to document the lives of Lucy and her family for our children’s book, I‘m Lucy: A Day in the Life of a Young Bonobo.

This is the story of a male being introduced to the bonobo family at his new zoo home, starting with one of the established females and her son.

Their first meeting went very well. They did the things that bonobos do when they first meet such as touch each other, look each other over, make a lot of fun bonobo noise, share food and establish dominance. Apparently this male was quite the gentleman and made no threatening gestures towards the female or her son. He knew his place - meaning that he understood full well that this new female friend ranked higher than him. As he moved towards the food, she expertly blocked his path - essentially controlling the food stash - and he politely moved in a different direction; he did what she told him to do!

But, this is our favorite, favorite part of the story. After their first meeting, the zookeepers routinely separate the bonobos once again until their next meeting. They split the bonobos up by guiding them each through separate doors, and it’s done. But the next time they brought these two bonobos together, the apes knew what was coming. When the zookeepers started the process to separate them, the male and female bonobos refused to part. They moved together closely and would not let go so that as the zookeepers encouraged them to move through each door, they did so together. They outsmarted the zookeepers who had no choice but to leave them together for that time.

More from our Delfi interview coming soon!

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Lucy doing a handstand! She’s so big now! photo by Marian Brickner

Delfi Messinger is the Director of Animal Programs at the Jacksonville Zoo, home of Lucy, Kaleb, Lorel and Lexi. And, YES, this means that she can go see the bonobos whenever she wants! Delfi was also a key player in the creation of I’m Lucy. Without her kindness, her love for bonobos and her gracious permission for our photographer, Marian Brickner, to take a zillion pictures of Lucy and her family, this book would not exist today. Many, many thanks to you, Delfi.

We got the chance to talk to Delfi the other day and, literally, had to force ourselves to hang up the phone. She has so many incredible stories, we could have listened all day.

We originally contacted Delfi because of the post we wrote on May 6th where we wondered: are zoos good or bad? This post has been read more than any other post and folks seem very passionate about the subject…so we wanted to go straight to the source at one of our favorite zoos, and see what’s up. Here’s what she had to say:

Bonobo Kids: We know that there are good zoos and bad zoos - and we know that Jacksonville is a very good zoo. Can you tell us why?

Delfi: I’d love to use bonobos specifically to illustrate this point - they are such a great example of why Jacksonville is such a good zoo.

First, we’re an AZA (Association of Zoos & Aquariums) zoo, and incidentally all bonobos in the U.S. are in AZA zoos which means they are in the best facilities in terms of care and conservation and education. The bonobos in Europe are in the European equivalent of AZA zoos.

Jacksonville got the bonobos in 1998, so we’ve had them for 10 years. And one of the cool things about this zoo, like San Diego (which also has bonobos) is that we have pretty good, warm weather, so the bonobos get to be outside most of the year. We always keep them as close as we can to their real habitat. We pay close attention to the rule that what goes on in mother nature is essential to meeting the apes’ psychological and emotional natures.

For example, with bonobos, they stay with their mothers for years, nursing until they are about five. Then, the males continue to stay with their mothers for life, and it’s the females that leave the group when they are teenagers (around 10 years old) - then, they bond with the females of a new group. This is markedly different from other animal groups, where it’s the male that leaves. As a zoo community, we need to facilitate this natural movement, and we have to do it across zoo lines.

So, back to why Jacksonville is such a great zoo. We work closely with Species Survival Plan (SSP) to manage our bonobos. Many endangered zoo animals are managed by SSPs. They monitor all of the bonobos and help facilitate the survival of the species. They incorporate many factors to do this, including, talking to the IRs (Institutional Representatives) which includes people like me and the actual bonobo handlers at the zoos and direct knowledge of the bonobos’ actual personalities. For instance, you would need to be careful with the move of a super dominate female because she needs to get along with the other females at the new zoo. The SSP also studies the genetics of each animal as well, making sure that new family pairings will create strong baby bonobos, ensuring their survival.

Coming tomorrow: The story of a bonobo arrival at the Jacksonville Zoo…our favorite bonobo story to date!

Delfi also has a wonderful blog where she talks about her amazing work saving bonobos and chimps in Africa and her daily work at the Jacksonville Zoo. You’ll see some great photos of Lucy, Kaleb and the rest of the bonobo crew!

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