A rare sanctuary in Congo looks after baby bonobos away from poaching threat

LOLA YA BONOBO, Congo (AP) — Micheline Nzonzi cradled a small and sleepy bonobo, an orphan whose life she will try to save over the next three years or so.

The 1-year-old's chances are good, with motherly affection, milk from a bottle and frequent play with other babies.

“Without me, without us, these bonobos cannot survive,” said Nzonzi, who has been a bonobo foster mother for 24 years. “They survive thanks to human affection.”

This primate nursery on the forested outskirts of the Congolese capital of Kinshasa is the world’s only sanctuary for orphaned bonobos, usually rescued from poachers or found trapped in the homes of locals who raise them for their meat.

Although great apes like the endangered bonobos are legally protected from hunters, they are still targeted to satisfy demand for bushmeat in areas far beyond the Congo Basin, an expansive rain forest that is sometimes called Earth’s second lung. The bushmeat trade ranges from rodents to antelopes, but a totemic ape like the bonobo may fetch a higher price.

“The bonobos are in danger. We are educating people to not kill the bonobos,” said Arsène Madimba, an educator with the Lola ya Bonobo sanctuary. “We can’t kill them, we can’t put them at home as pets, we can’t eat them. Because of poaching, we can find big trading of orphaned bonobos across the country.”

Bonobos raise their babies for four to five years. Their low reproductive cycle means they are vulnerable to environmental disturbances. To protect them and their habitat, Congolese authorities last year broached the idea of issuing “bonobo credits,” similar to carbon credits, to reward communities for preserving forests. The program is yet to take off.

“There is a cultural difference” between Congo and neighboring Uganda, where apes are not hunted for meat, said primatologist Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka, founder of the Uganda-based Conservation Through Public Health group. “In Congo, they believe that you can become as strong as (the primate eaten)."

There are dozens of grown bonobos at Lola ya Bonobo. Some have lived there since 2002, when this sanctuary opened under the sponsorship of a conservation nonprofit known by its French name of Les Amis des Bonobos du Congo.

The nursery also has 11 young bonobos, with the most recent arriving earlier this year. Each baby is paired with a foster mother who will look after it for years before it can be transferred to bonobo groups open to visitors.

On rare occasions, an animal at Lola ya Bonobo eventually returns to the wild, which can take years of preparation.

Bonobos share nearly 99% of their DNA with humans and, along with chimpanzees, are our closest living relatives.

In the 1980s, primatologists estimated about 100,000 bonobos were left in the wild. The number is now estimated at roughly 20,000, an astonishing decline. The bonobo is threatened primarily by the commercial bushmeat trade, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

The bonobo’s natural habitat is an area of dense equatorial forest south of the Congo River. Bonobos are rarely studied in the wild, and much of what is known about them emerged from studies in foreign zoos and by foreign researchers drawn to a fascinating creature.

The bonobo was first identified as a possibly separate species in 1929, when German anatomist Ernst Schwarz noticed a difference in the skull of a specimen believed to be a grown chimpanzee with an unusually small head. Schwarz’s rival, an American zoologist named Harold Coolidge, later provided detailed descriptions that made it possible in 1933 to classify the bonobo as a separate species.

The bonobo is relatively well-known among Americans, due in part to its reputation as one of the most intelligent, peaceful and empathetic animals. They may even have a capacity for imagination, according to a study published in 2025 by Johns Hopkins University.

Bonobos are led by females and distinguished by their apparent lack of sexual jealousy. When two groups meet, females may switch sides without provoking a fight, unlike chimpanzees and gorillas. They may initiate casual mating, which happens so frequently, so intensely, and with such variety of style that bonobos are described as the “hippie apes.”

In Kinshasa, the trade in primate meat has gone underground. Traders need permits to hunt antelopes and other species, but trading in “les macaques” is prohibited in part to prevent the spread of zoonotic diseases such as Ebola.

“I used to sell monkeys before, but now we cannot sell monkeys, any type of monkeys,” said Charles Ntanga, a vendor at Masina market.

Ntanga wielded a flywhisk to swat flies that settled on the rancid carcass of a giant rodent before him, with a kilogram going for about $17. Guyva Mputu, the vendor next to him, was selling python, whose frozen flesh started to steam in the humid weather.

Baby bonobos captured by poachers are used to lure grown bonobos, which are shot when they come to investigate the noise, said Madimba of Lola ya Bonobo.

Orphaned bonobos build bonds with their caregivers, who often can identify each by name, said zookeeper Frank Lutete, whose role is to feed the animals. He paddled across the water to distribute papaya as the bonobos made a racket, coming down trees to collect his offerings.

Some bonobos thank him, he said, tapping their chests in a gesture of gratitude.

For more on Africa and development: https://apnews.com/hub/africa-pulse

The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

Micheline Nzonzi cares for an infant bonobo at the Lola ya Bonobo sanctuary in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Wednesday, April 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Samy Ntumba Shambuyi)

A bonobo cares for her baby at the Lola ya Bonobo sanctuary in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, on April 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Samy Ntumba Shambuyi)

Bonobos at the Lola ya Bonobo sanctuary eat papaya in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, on April 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Samy Ntumba Shambuyi)

Caregivers at the Lola ya Bonobo sanctuary tend to orphan bonobos in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, on April 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Samy Ntumba Shambuyi)

Caregivers at the Lola ya Bonobo sanctuary tend to orphan bonobos in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, on April 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Samy Ntumba Shambuyi)

FILE - A group of Bonobo stand around behind an electric fence at the Lola Ya Bonobo Sanctuary outside of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo on April 30, 2005. (AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam, File)

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Estonian authorities said Tuesday that an arson attack carried out last month on a defense company that provides military vehicles to Ukraine was an act of sabotage commissioned by Russian security services.

Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said that “such actions are absolutely unacceptable” and that Russia's charge d'affaires in Tallinn was being summoned to his ministry.

A fire broke out overnight on Aug. 15 at a building in the Estonian capital used by Milrem Robotics, but was quickly brought under control, the BNS news agency reported. On Aug. 17, two Latvian suspects were detained in neighboring Latvia, and a third followed the next day. The suspects were handed over to Estonia.

Milrem has supplied THeMIS unmanned ground vehicles to Ukraine.

The Estonian Internal Security Service said that it has concluded that the arson attack “was a deliberate and pre-planned act commissioned by Russian security services.”

It said in a statement that “the modus operandi of the Milrem attack is consistent with other acts of sabotage carried out in Europe on behalf of Russia,” adding that it “assesses that the attack is directly attributable to the Russian Federation.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that “such statements are unfounded, ill-considered, absolutely not reflecting the reality, not containing any substantiation whatsoever.”

“We cannot take such statements seriously, and we won’t,” Peskov said.

Moscow has been widely accused by Western officials of running a campaign of sabotage and disruption with the aim of undermining support for Ukraine and destabilizing European nations.

The Associated Press has tracked around 200 incidents of sabotage and malign activity across Europe blamed on Russia since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.

That includes organizing plots to set fire to warehouses, launching drones and trying to kill enemies abroad as well as stealing defense technology and carrying out cyberattacks on critical European infrastructure.

In a recent case that pointed to an escalation of such activity, Germany blamed Russia for an attempted attack at Leipzig/Halle Airport in early August using a drone laden with explosives.

Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal wrote on X that “we will not be intimidated.”

FILE -Estonia's Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna speaks during a meeting of foreign ministers and state secretaries from the Nordic-Baltic Eight, in Chisinau, Moldova, Oct.15, 2024. (AP Photo/Aurel Obreja, File)