Keen student becomes the first Chinese to get inside the world's only bonobo ape sanctuary

Tan Jingzhi still feels emotional when he thinks about the strong family ties shared by a rare species of ape that he studied in Africa.

The 24-year-old researcher, a graduate from Peking University, was the first Chinese person to set foot inside the world's only bonobo sanctuary, which is home to an endangered species that used to be called the pygmy chimpanzee.

He says he cannot forget the way the family of bonobos reacted when one of its members died.

"When the wardens were trying to remove the body from the enclosure, an area surrounded by an electric fence, the rest of the group became upset and tried everything they could to stop staff from taking their friend away," said Tan.

"Even though they risked being hurt by the electricity, they carried on."

Tan said the wardens went into the enclosure with tranquilizer guns as a precaution.

"The bonobos had seen similar guns used to kill their families in the wild but they still defended their friend's body without fear."

The bonobo is the least-known of the world's four great ape species and it shares 98.7 percent of its DNA with humans. The species is in danger and is only found in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

For Tan, who has been interested in wildlife since he was a child, the chance to study the animal up close was a dream come true.

After concluding his studies in life science in Beijing, Tan won a PhD scholarship and continued his research at Duke University in the United States.

"Unlike the traditional way of observing animals in labs, my research team has projects in Africa so I got the precious chance to get close to the bonobos in the Congo's conservation center," he said.

As a result of his scientific research and journey to Africa between June and August 2009, Tan has been hailed in the domestic media as "the first Chinese" protecting bonobos in Lola ya Bonobo, the Kinshasa-based sanctuary run by the NGO Les Amis des Bonobos.

Lola was founded by Belgian animal lover Claudine Andre in 1997. It is home to about 50 orphaned bonobos that have been rescued from local black markets. The young animals are often captured in the wild and sold as pets in Europe, the US and the Middle East. Usually, their parents are killed by the black-market traders and eaten.

"According to our investigation, for every individual rescued, there are about five individuals, including their mothers or siblings, that are killed by poachers or that died before being rescued," Tan said.

"Because of ongoing deforestation and poaching, the number of bonobos decreased from 100,000 in 1980 to the 5,000 or so that are left today."

Tan was deeply influenced by the renowned British primatologist Jane Goodall who spent 45 years studying chimpanzees. He said he made up his mind to focus on animal research and protection when he was in high school.

"One of my biggest dreams as a teenager was to make big money to open a stray animal sanctuary," he said.

Tan realized his dream somewhat in Africa when he found he could help the homeless and abused bonobos in a professional and scientific way.

During his two months in Africa, Tan and his colleagues provided professional support on how to better protect bonobos.

"We had the world's first bonobo release project in the summer of 2009. Nine bonobos have been released into the wild and our experienced primatologists tracked their behavior in the natural environment," Tan said.

Because he was the only Chinese person among the many Western zoologists, Tan took on the job of translating the Lola website into Chinese in the hope of making more Chinese people aware of the endangered apes. He also set up a Chinese language blog to showcase his experiences in Africa.

However, along with the excitement and joy, Tan experienced a good deal of death and, at times, felt helpless.

"I have seen the saddest bonobo there," he said. "We called him Lomami. He arrived at the sanctuary in 2005 and all the fingers on his right hand had been cut off. Someone had locked him up in a cage and cut off his fingers at different times.

"Lomami never played with the other bonobos and was afraid of all people. When I left Lola, he still didn't trust people."

Tan is now taking part in a second research trip to Lola and hopes to learn more about the bonobo's cooperation and altruism, in order to find out "whether bonobos will show some types of cooperation that humans have."

He also plans to visit Chinese communities to tell people about the illegal and brutal trade in bushmeat and the threats bonobos are facing.

He says his efforts are hampered because some Eastern researchers have a prejudice against the animals because of their lifestyle.

Known to some as 'hippie apes' bonobos have a highly developed interest in sexual activity, something that makes them unattractive to some conservative people with traditional Eastern backgrounds.

"And most people don't know bonobos are apes not monkeys," he added.

"They don't know bonobos are also our closest relatives, let alone the fact that bonobos are critically endangered."