People and Bonobos in the Southern Lake Tumba Landscape, Democratic Republic of Congo

Abstract

The southern Lake Tumba landscape is one of the very few areas in the range of the bonobo distribution where the species occurs within distances easily accessible by human populations. It offers exceptional human-bonobo interactivity on which several ecological hypotheses have been tested. Ecological studies carried out in this area indicated that ecological factors cannot, on their own, explain the presence of the bonobos in high density. Detailed studies on human ecology, including how people in the southern Lake Tumba Landscape perceive the presence of the bonobos, are necessary to fully depict ecological interactions between bonobos and their environment in the southern Lake Tumba landscape. Structured interview questionnaires were administered to local people from two ethnic groups within the southern Lake Tumba Landscape and responses were recorded. A 2  -tests undertaken frequencies of responses to examine whether the perceived bonobo presence and abundance differed indicated that, indeed, the Bateke has a great knowledge of the bonobo ecology, they perceived bonobos differently when compared to the Ntomba. They showed greater willingness to protect the species. More generally, we concluded that the willingness to address conservation issues depended on tribe and have historical and cultural roots.

<Note>Nkala Forest: Introduction of a forest-savanna mosaic field site of wild bonobos and its future prospects

“…The site is unique for its forest-savanna mosaic environment, as previous studies on wild bonobos have mainly been conducted in rich tropical rainforests (Furuichi & Thompson 2010) such as Wamba (Kano 1992), Lomako (Badrian & Malenky 1984) and LuiKotale (Hohmann & Fruth 2003). Inogwabini et al (2008) recently confirmed that wild bonobos inhabit a wider range of environments than previously thought, and since then much attention has been paid to wild bonobos in forest-savanna mosaic environments (Inogwabini et al 2013;Narat et al 2015a, b, c;Pennec et al 2016;Serckx et al 2014Serckx et al , 2015Serckx et al , 2016. Wild bonobos in Mbali thus present a promising and novel research opportunity for understanding bonobo behavior from a broader species level.…”

“…Nkala villagers (Bateke people) have a strong traditional taboo against eating bonobos (Inogwabini et al 2013). Due to the MMT's long-term efforts in the Mbali area (e.g.…”

“…Such an approach has been taken to some extent with chimpanzees (e.g., Pruetz & Bertolani 2009), however there are few studies with wild bonobos. Some research in forest-savanna mosaic environments has been conducted on local ecology (e.g., Serckx et al 2015;Trolliet et al 2016;Pennec et al 2016) and human-bonobo relationships (Inogwabini et al 2013;Narat et al 2015a) in the Mbali area, and also on conservation (Hickey et al 2013) and genetics (Kawamoto et al 2013;Takemoto et al 2017) in Tshuapa-Lomami-Lualaba (TL2) in the eastern end of bonobo's range (Figure 1). However, studies on bonobos' behavior and society in forest-savanna mosaic environments are extremely limited (but see Druelle et al 2020;Narat et al 2015b).…”

Current knowledge on the Cuvette Centrale peatland complex and future research directions

“…Research into the faunal diversity of the Cuvette Centrale has highlighted that the wetland forests in particular have high population densities of ape species such as the lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla), chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes Blumenbach) and bonobo (Pan paniscus Schwartz; Rainey et al, 2010;Inogwabini et al, 2013). Other species noted to be present in the swamps of the Cuvette Centrale include the African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis Matschie) and the dwarf crocodile (Osteolaemus tetraspis Cope), which has been recorded using the peat to construct its nests (Riley and Huchzremever, 1999).…”

Bonobo conservation as a means for local development: an innovative local initiative of community-based conservation in Democratic Republic of Congo.

“…Moreover, the habitat is composed by a forest-savanna mosaic, which is very rare in the bonobo distribution area [12][13][14][15][16]. Locally, the Batéké people respect a traditional eating-taboo concerning bonobos that they neither kill nor eat [13,14,17] and have shared their territory with them for centuries [18]. A community-based conservation project has been in progress in this area for 14 years, led and initiated by a local Non Governmental Organization (NGO) named Mbou-Mon-Tour (MMT).…”