Sally Jewell Coxe and Iboko

We have returned from a fantastic weekend in New York City where we attended Groovananda - a musical and yogic benefit for the Bonobo Conservation Initiative (BCI) at Jivamukti Yoga School. The place was hopping with groovy music and dancing - but the highlight, for us hardcore bonobo fans anyway, were the stories from people that have actually spent time with these unique great apes.

Tony Levin, famed musician and bassist to greats such as Peter Gabriel, tried to find the words to describe his experiences playing music with Panbanisha and Kanzi. The stories were awe-inspiring as he told us about their individual intelligences, Kanzi’s ability to hear them speak through solid glass no human could hear through, their complete comprehension of the English language (even with Peter Gabriel’s British accent), their distinct personalities that were seen and heard through the music they created, the baby that sat on Panbanisha’s shoulder throughout their jam session.

The co-founder of BCI, President Sally Jewell Coxe, and Executive Director Michael Hurley, were recognized for their amazing work. Each took a turn showing slides and talking about the state of the DRC and the bonobos. We heard about the incredible impact BCI has had on this war torn country and how the differences have been made by including the entire community in protecting the bonobos and the land. BCI’s work has brought education, health care and work to the Democratic Republic of Congo - in addition to a deep teaching of the benefits of helping the endangered bonobo and their rainforests. Our favorite pictures were of little Iboko, a baby bonobo orphaned by the bushmeat trade. She was rescued by BCI and nursed back to health. She adopted Sally as her mom and the pictures of them snuggled together were beyond precious. The pictures of the land, water and creatures of the DRC - and of its people - were breathtaking. We are so proud to be donating the profits of I’m Lucy to BCI.

We met so many wonderful people and were totally impressed by Jivamukti’s dedication to helping all animals - sheltered cats and dogs, NYC’s carriage horses and bonobos alike.

Thanks everyone!!!

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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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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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Researchers in the field are finding evidence of hunting and decreased bonobo numbers in protected areas (national parks) in the DRC. They believe that soldier groups are hiding in the parks and hunting bonobos to sell for money.

Here is the evidence: humans leave trash, bullet shells and belongings behind at their temporary camp sites. The field researchers also note that while they hear bonobo calls and see their nests and droppings, they aren’t seeing the actual bonobos – they used to see bonobos all the time. They believe that the bonobo population has decreased an additional 20%!

We’ve written about this issue before – wondering how the Congolese park authorities can possibly monitor a huge space, like the Sankuru Nature Reserve - formed by the Bonobo Conservation Initiative and the Congolese government, that is almost 12,000 square miles.

You are the most brilliant kids in the entire universe, so let’s hear your ideas. How can the land and the bonobos be protected? We’ll post your most creative answers…and who knows what may happen, we could get your ideas to the Congolese government and put them into action!

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In that wonderful Time article I told you about on Friday, the author discusses the Sankuru Nature Reserve - here is the scoop on this incredible accomplishment for the DRC, bonobos and the world:

Our friends at the Bonobo Conservation Initiative (BCI) have partnered with the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo to create a new nature reserve to protect the bonobos and the environment. The Sankuru Nature Reserve, covers a huge rainforest area within the DRC where the endangered bonobos live. The reserve site is larger than the state of Massachusetts, and covers 11,803 square miles of tropical rainforest that are extremely rich in biodiversity.

In a time when the DRC’s rainforests and bonobos are facing extinction – two events that would be devastating to the Earth – this partnership and conservation action is excellent, but not the happy end to the story. Now that the Sankuru Reserve is in place, the protection for the forests and the animals must be enforced. Imagine trying to protect the borders of Massachusetts so that no one could get in without permission! It is a huge job and it has never been more important to help, contribute, donate, write letters, buy I’m Lucy books…whatever you can do!!!

More than bonobos! In addition to the bonobo, the Sankuru Reserve contains the okapi (Okapia johnstoni), an exotic short necked forest giraffe who also live in the DRC, but were not previously found outside of their known range far to the northeast. Survey teams from the Congo’s Center for Research in Ecology and Forestry (CREF) sponsored by BCI made this exciting discovery. Sankuru also contains elephants, which have been hunted out in many other areas of the Congo forest, plus at least 10 other species of primates, including the rare owl faced monkey and blue monkey.

What is a nature reserve? A nature reserve, sometimes called a nature preserve, is a protected area for wildlife, flora, fauna or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research. This means that in the Sankuru Nature Reserve, hunting and deforestation is not allowed. For wildlife, sometimes a sanctuary, like the Lola Ya Bonobo Sanctuary, protects, researches and gives medical attention to wildlife that is not able to participate in their natural environment due to harm done to the animals or to their habitats by people.

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