Hyperion to a Satyr

So why the gracile Pan paniscus? Why the noble Bonobo? The grand Pygmy Chimp?

Honestly, why not?

Bonobos are found exclusively in a small region of jungle thicket in the DRC. They are considerably more amicable than their troglodyte cousins and honestly are far more, and I say this with hesitance for fear of insulting them, human.

 They are similar to the common chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes), however, they do differ in some notable respects in that the bonobo is shorter, narrower in the chest and hips, has longer limbs and a more upright posture.

Bonobo society is almost nearly devoid of violence and has come to this “enlightenment” by a very special means:

They have shit loads of sex;

In any position, in any setting; for food; a greeting, with any member, be it homosexual or heterosexual or even with their own offspring.

About 60% of all sex in Bonobo society is Female-Female genital rubbing and represents the highest level of homosexual behaviour in any species. There is also evidence of male-male homosexual activities, referred to, quite accurately, as “Penis fencing”.

“Anything that arouses the interest of more than one bonobo at a time, not just food, tends to result in sexual contact. If two bonobos approach a cardboard box thrown into their enclosure, they will briefly mount each other before playing with the box. Such situations lead to squabbles in most other species. But bonobos are quite tolerant, perhaps because they use sex to divert attention and to defuse tension” (Wikipedia, 2011)

Now, bonobos have a very “special” relationship with their off spring... Mothers will “train” their offspring in the ways of sex; yes, I’m saying that mothers will sleep with her sons and daughters (Incest is best). However, they will only train their offspring up to the point of sexual maturation (12 and 15 years for females and males respectively).

The bonobo is truly a remarkable anatomical specimen, with an opposable “Thumb” on the foot.

This allows for unmatched levels of precision, allowing bonobos to use both their hands and feet equally.

Now to mention their culture and ability to learn:

“Bonobos are capable of passing the mirror-recognition test for self-awareness. They communicate primarily through vocal means, although the meanings of their vocalizations are not currently known. However, most humans do understand their facial expressions and some of their natural hand gestures, such as their invitation to play. Two Bonobos at the Great Ape Trust, Kanzi and Panbanisha, have been taught how to communicate using a keyboard labeled with lexigrams (geometric symbols) and they can respond to spoken sentences. Kanzi's vocabulary consists of more than 500 English words.and he has comprehension of around 3,000 spoken English words. Kanzi has also been known for learning from observation of people trying to teach his mother. His mother was not learning some things and Kanzi started doing the tasks that his mother was taught just by watching. Some, such asphilosopher and bioethicist Peter Singer, argue that these results qualify them for the "rights to survival and life", rights that humans theoretically accord to all persons.


There are instances in which non-human primates have been reported to have expressed joy. One study analyzed and recorded sounds made by human babies and Bonobos when they were tickled. It found although the Bonobo's laugh was a higher frequency, the laugh followed a similar spectrographic pattern to human babies.” (Wikipedia 2011)

In short bonobos have the ability to understand self and to outperform a 2 year old in verbal communications. There is serious research into using Kanzi’s lexigrams to help mentally retarded Humans to communicate.

So I ask, why do we not attribute the genus Homo to these noble creatures? Are our anthrocentric views, so strong that we cannot accept that we are somehow not special?

I believe that we should expand the genus homo to encompass the entire genus Pan, and perhaps use the generic Pan as a sub-genus. That is Pan paniscus will become Homo (Pan) paniscus and Pan troglodytes will become Homo (Pan) troglodytes.

If this is too difficult for the masses to accept that, I wish to remind them that the old adage “Vox populi, vox dei” does not hold in the field of science. Just because the belief that something is not true is held by the multitude, does not necessarily make it immediately false.

Humans are not a special creation, removed from nature; we are animals, and bloody terrible ones at that. No mass extinction before has been attributed to one species, however, we are currently in an anthropic extinction, with levels of extinction rising exponentially, as can be seen below

It may be argued that we are special creation due to our increased intelligence and moral code. I will deal with these two points separately.

Increased intelligence? How is this an argument? What gives us the right to attribute one phenotype as more beneficial than another? One characteristic as superior to another? Why is a cheetah or a peregrine falcon not “greater” than us because of their attribute of speed? Why is a Blue Whale not superior because of its size? What I am arguing is that there is no such thing as a superior, and by inference, inferior species. All species are as evolved as each other in order to cope with their particular evolutionary niche.

The moral code can arise through evolution, the basic premises where explored in Hamilton’s 1966 treatise. Morality could arise purely through inclusive fitness and basic game theory. The optimal strategy proposed by Hamilton and Maynard-Smith is Tit-for-Tat. This is the basic morality as expressed in the Old Testament, viz. Exodus, chapter 21, verse 12. This is the basic idea behind all “Rehabilitation services”. Now, I am not saying that I agree with the death penalty, in fact I am categorically against it, for various reasons which I hope to explore in a later post, but this is not the time and it is hardly relevant. In short, a moral law, does not predicate a moral law giver, all that is required for a moral law to exist is the presence of a basic society. In fact, evolution can account for all our moral practices (Dawkins, 2006)

We are not a special creation and are actually doing more damage to this planet than any other organism before us.

So, if we are so evil, why hasn’t nature knocked us out? It is important to remember that evolution is a “blind watchmaker” (Dawkins, 1986). Evolution does not have any comprehension of past or future, only present. Human Society has developed a way of overcoming natural selection, we call it Medicine. I will be the first to admit, that natural selection should have knocked me out ages ago, I was a breach birth, with my head trapped behind a fold in my mother’s uterus. I have a wonky knee, actually I had to have a full patella reconstruction on one of my knees and can foresee another one coming soon. Thank Jupiter for modern medicine, without it, many of the great minds that enable the minds of today to “Stand on the Shoulders of Giants” would never have lived to publish anything. However, medicine has virtually halted Human evolution, with some notable exceptions, for instance, the genetic disease of acephaly.

So why do we still hold the genus Homo as sacred? Why is it the proverbial holy cow?

You know, on second thought, I retract my statement on “elevating” the genus Pan to the genus homo, as it will obviously degrade this noble creature to be in cohorts with us. I mean, it would be hard enough being Hitler’s cousin, without having to carry the surname aswell.