Bonobo

Feeding and Nutrition

The Bonobos diet consists mainly of plant food such as the flesh of fruits, seeds, sprouts, leaves, flowers, bark, stems, pith, roots, and mushrooms. They have learned to eat the different parts of plants and trees according to the season and availability. Bonobos are not strictly vegetarians, in fact they take advantage of several feeding categories, thus qualifying them as omnivours. They are known to eat small animals such as flying squirrels and Duikers, insect larvae, earthworms, eggs, honey. Even with this diverse diet, Bonobos prefer fruit, which makes up about 57% of their diet. Which fruit they are eating is dependent upon the season. Majority of their feeding takes place in the canopy, since this is where the main part of their diet is located. As a result they do not travel large distances in one day, thus the convenience of nest building.

Bonobos are able to maintain their larger social groups because in that region of the world their dietary needs are accommodated with plentiful resources. With larger trees there is less competition, thus allowing for larger multi-male, multi-female feeding parties. Some competition does occur when there is a shortage of certain favorable fruits. Hence hierarchies are formed around food. There are sex-for-food exchanges as well as loose alliances between two dominant adults. Food sharing is predominantly observed between dominant adult females and occasionally there are exchanges between dominant males and females. When tension does occur over food resources the Bonobos use sex as an effective tension reducing mechanism.

Bonobos do take part in some hunting activities, thus the meat that is included in their diets. In comparison to chimpanzees however, Bonobo's hunting is extremely calm and mostly about the social sharing afterwards. Rather than hunting in large groups and making it an incredible social spectacle, Bonobos hunt the Duikers and Flying squirrels alone. Once the hunting is over, the Bonobo will return with the fresh meat and sometimes share it. Through the course of sharing, arousal is common and the hunter will often engage in sex several times. This entire process could take upwards of several hours.