By Dan Klepal
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Bonobo baby at Cincinnati Zoo

Bonobo apes have been clinging to life against all odds in the Democratic Republic of Congo for years, dodging poachers, civil war and human encroachment in their bid to survive.

With only an estimated 5,000 of the great apes left on the planet - all in Congo - there is a new threat, and a new reason for hope. That hope comes thanks, in part, to the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden.

Bonobo apes are the most genetically similar primate to humans, even closer than chimpanzees. Six of the apes have died suddenly in a Congo sanctuary this year because of a mysterious virus that attacks their brain and heart. The sanctuary houses 26 of the endangered apes.

The Cincinnati Zoo was granted an emergency permit to bring back samples of tissue, feces, hair and blood from the apes to help researchers find a cause for the deaths and hopefully help them find a vaccine.

Ken Cameron, associate veterinarian with the zoo, was in Africa on another assignment when he paid a visit to the Lola ya Bonobo sanctuary in January. He arrived in the midst of the disease outbreak that had already claimed one animal and would kill another before he left. Three more died before Cameron got back to Cincinnati.

"The animals were dying rapidly, so we applied for our own permit to expedite bringing in the samples," Cameron said. "We needed pathology that the sanctuary just isn't set up for. That's one thing we can provide from this side of the ocean. And we've managed to isolate a virus."

Researchers are now working on a vaccine that should be ready in four to six weeks. The virus appears to have originated from rodents and it is unknown whether it is affecting bonobos in the wild.

Sally Coxe, president of the Bonobo Conservation Initiative in Washington, D.C., said the exact population of bonobos is unknown. Although 5,000 is the most common estimate, some believe the population may have decreased by as much as 75 percent in the last six years.

Bonobos are a hypersexual animal that, unlike their human and chimpanzee cousins, do not kill each other. Researchers believe the apes use their sexual practices, which include bisexuality, to reduce stress and solve disputes.

"People should care about bonobos because they are the closest creature to humans on the planet," Coxe said.

E-mail dklepal@enquirer.com