Let's Play a Game!

[Peter]

JTS wrote:

I am an anthropoid ape. I am told that there is a 2% difference in DNA between me and the other anthropoid apes. I figured nobody will notice such a small difference.

end quote

And Moralist replied:

The way most people behave, there's no difference.

end quote

Well I bet both of you are in the top 2%. After I wrote that I remember asking jts the same question or just thinking it, I can’t tell which. An article a couple of years ago in Nat Geo, listed the differences between Bonobos and chimps, and the Bonobos are closer to us genetically and “nicer.” Well, except they use sex to ease social tensions. Continuously. One Bonobo expert said she even observed a toddler Bonobo boy humping his Mom’s leg and the mom thought it was cute! Give me a hug, you little hunk!

I remember reading “Clan of the Cave Bear” and the author was quite fetched with the idea of sex with no privacy. She “fathomed up” that maybe Neanderthals were telepathic too. I guess humans survived the lack of privacy.

Sorry, Eva. Didn't mean to spoil your thread.

[Frediano]

Looks like free association reared its ugly head.

[Peter]

Fred wrote, "Looks like free association reared its ugly head."

You talkin' ta me? Edit: Sorry, SoMad. Didn't mean to spoil your thread. Bonobo Bonobo Bonobo.

[Peter]

From USA TODAY. Ashley Judd recovering in ICU after shattering leg in African rainforest in harrowing accident, Charles Trepany . . . .  According to Judd, the accident occurred while she was on a trip to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to research bonobo apes. While walking in the dark with a faint headlamp, Judd said she tripped over a fallen tree . . . . According to Judd, her right foot is currently lame, and it's going to take time and intensive physical therapy to heal it . . .

I wish miss Judd a speedy recovery.  I remember a PBS show that said the bonobo IS genetically closer to humans than other chimpanzees and IS our closest living relative. Peter   

Notes. From Wikipedia: . . . .  The bonobo (/bəˈnoʊboʊ, ˈbɒnəboʊ/; Pan paniscus), also historically called the pygmy chimpanzee and less often, the dwarf or gracile chimpanzee, is an endangered great ape and one of the two species making up the genus Pan; the other being the common chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes). Although bonobos are not a subspecies of chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes), but rather a distinct species in their own right, both species are sometimes referred to collectively using the generalized term chimpanzees, or chimps. Taxonomically, the members of the chimpanzee/bonobo subtribe Panina (composed entirely by the genus Pan) are collectively termed panins. . . . . Along with the common chimpanzee, the bonobo is the closest extant relative to humans. As the two species are not proficient swimmers, the formation of the Congo River 1.5–2 million years ago possibly led to the speciation of the bonobo. Bonobos live south of the river, and thereby were separated from the ancestors of the common chimpanzee, which live north of the river. There are no concrete data on population numbers, but the estimate is between 29,500 and 50,000 individuals. The species is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List and is threatened by habitat destruction and human population growth and movement, though commercial poaching is the most prominent threat. Bonobos typically live 40 years in captivity; their lifespan in the wild is unknown, but it is almost certainly much shorter  . . . . Primatologist Frans de Waal states bonobos are capable of altruism, compassion, empathy, kindness, patience, and sensitivity, and described "bonobo society" as a "gynecocracy".