Bonobo

The Bonobo (English pronunciation: /bəˈnoʊboʊ/ /ˈbɒnɵboʊ/), Pan paniscus, previously called the Pygmy Chimpanzee and less often, the Dwarf or Gracile Chimpanzee, is a great ape and one of the two species making up the genus Pan. The other species in genus Pan is Pan troglodytes, or the Common Chimpanzee. Although the name "chimpanzee" is sometimes used to refer to both species together, it is usually understood as referring to the Common Chimpanzee, while Pan paniscus is usually referred to as the Bonobo.
The Bonobo is endangered and is found in the wild only in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Along with the Common Chimpanzee, the Bonobo is the closest extant relative to humans. Since the two species are not proficient swimmers, it is possible that the formation of the Congo River 1.5–2 million years ago led to the speciation of the Bonobo. They live south of the river, and thereby were separated from the ancestors of the Common Chimpanzee, which live north of the river.
German anatomist Ernst Schwarz is credited with having discovered the Bonobo in 1928, based on his analysis of a skull in the Tervuren museum in Belgium that previously had been thought to have belonged to a juvenile chimpanzee. Schwarz published his findings in 1929. In 1933, American anatomist Harold Coolidge offered a more detailed description of the Bonobo, and elevated it to species status.
The species is distinguished by relatively long legs, pink lips, dark face and tail-tuft through adulthood, and parted long hair on their head. Although, it had been reported that Bonobos were a matriarchal species, more recent research on wild bonobos and accounts reported in the Smithsonian magazine indicate that Bonobo troops are led by a dominant alpha male who plays an active role in defending the troop from predators:
"The alpha male is usually in charge," Ihomi says. The alpha male determines where the troop eats and sleeps and when it moves, and he is the first to defend the troop from leopards and pythons.
In captivity, Bonobos were perceived to be a matriarchal species that commonly engages in casual sexual activity, as well as significant homosexual contact. The limited field research on bonobos in the wild reveals that these behaviors may be exaggerated by captivity, as well as by food provisioning by researchers in the field.
This primate is mainly frugivorous, but supplements its diet with leaves and meat from small vertebrates, such as flying squirrels and duikers, and invertebrates. In some instances, bonobos have been shown to consume lower-order primates. Some claim that Bonobos have also been known to practice cannibalism in captivity, a claim disputed by others.