Today we are celebrating a true bonobo champion! Elaine Broadhead is retiring from the BCI Board of Directors after eighteen years of incredible service.

We are so excited to announce the birth of a new baby in the Kokoalongo bonobo group! Scientists from the Max Planck Institute who have been observing the bonobos report that the little one was born between December 29th and January 2nd.

The First Light Foundation and the BCI Board of Directors have teamed up to offer a $20,000 Challenge Grant! Why $20,000? BCI’s 20th anniversary year wraps up in June 2019. What better way to celebrate twenty years of lifesaving work than to give that work a boost?

In honor of World Bonobo Day, Metazoa Brewing Company is producing the world’s first Bonobo Brew (TM)! World Bonobo Day takes place on February 14, also known as Valentine’s Day. Due to the loving and affectionate nature of bonobos, it’s only natural that it has been designated their holiday too!

It’s a new year and time of new beginnings! The bonobos’ home country, the Democratic Republic of Congo, has elected a new president. And we are delighted to report that Albert Lokasola, one of BCI’s cherished longtime partners, has been re-elected to parliament. Albert’s leadership in the Kokolopori Bonobo Reserve and across the Djolu territory continues to inspire communities to take a stand for conservation. Congratulations, Albert! And that’s not all that’s new around here! Read on to learn about a newborn bonobo in Kokolopori, a bonobo-inspired beer in honor of World Bonobo Day, and a chance to double the impact of your donation! 2019, we know we just met you, but we’re pretty sure we like you!

We are grateful to bonobos for serving as a flagship species for the Congo rainforest. The bonobo is a charismatic icon of hope within the Democratic Republic of Congo and beyond. The peaceful, cooperative society of bonobos inspired the concept of the Bonobo Peace Forest and led directly to the creation of the Kokolopori Bonobo Reserve and Sankuru Nature Reserve, as well as several other important cons

A message of gratitude from actor, activist, and bonobo supporter Ashley Judd

At current rates of deforestation, the Congo rainforest will be gone by 2100. And if that year seems to be in the distant future, consider that many of today’s kindergarteners will still be alive to see this complete destruction of what is currently the second largest rainforest on the planet. The good news? You can change the outcome.

We are so excited to announce that there is a newly identified bonobo group in the Yetee forest of the Kokolopori Bonobo Reserve! Members of the group were actually first observed in 2016, but trackers initially thought that the bonobos were members of the Bekako group. When research camp manager Anaïs van Cauwenberghe began tracking and naming the Bekako group, she quickly realized that the individuals in question belonged to a different group altogether. They were jokingly referred to as “fake Bekako” which then was shortened to “Fekako.”

From the very beginning of the Bonobo Peace Forest, local communities have been leading the charge for rainforest conservation. The Peace Forest approach is holistic: conservation and humanitarian needs are addressed simultaneously. When people have access to healthcare, education, and economic opportunity, they have alternatives to poaching and deforestation for survival. By investing in people’s wellbeing, we are investing in the wellbeing of the forest and all its inhabitants. The Peace Forest builds more than reserves; it builds a conservation-centered way of life!