Author Description

When acclaimed author Deni Béchard learned of the last livingbonobos - matriarchal great apes which are, alongside chimpanzees,our closest relatives - he was astonished. How could we accept thedisappearance of this majestic species, along with the rainforest itcalls home? Determined not to sit by and do nothing, Béchardbegan investigating the problems facing the bonobos - industrialand urban encroachment, aggressive resource extraction by foreigncomapnies, the civil war and genocide which had wreaked havocon the Congo intermittently or more than a century, the trade inbush-meat - and in the process discovered one small organization,the Bonobo Conservation Institute, which had done more tosave the bonobos than many much larger organizations. In BCIBéchard recognized a unique post-colonial model for conservationinitiatives which, if replicated, might provide one of the only hopesfor making the world a far better and more equitable place.Part polemic, part travelogue, part natural history, Bonobo Inc.offers a moving story of how a few committed people can affectgreat and lasting change, while point out the path which may allowus to emulate them.