The Mary Poppins of the bonobo world turns out to be a 12-year-old male, who adores infants so much that he has become a stellar babysitter in his social set.
Nyota, the babysitting bonobo, has become especially close to his four-month-old baby cousin, Teco, according to the Great Ape Trust, which provided the below images.
Nyota caring for Teco
Baby Teco resting on his mother, Elikya
"This is an excellent babysitter," said William Fields, director of scientific research at the Great Ape Trust, where the bonobos are housed. "He knows how to take care of babies."
The Great Ape Trust is a 230-acre campus that is home to a scientific research program that studies culture, language and inteligence.
Nyota spends much of his time meticulously grooming baby Taco in one of the research lab's play yards. Nyota had such a male babysitter himself, so researchers suspect he is mirroring that good care.
"What you are seeing is his experience and enculturation, his learning process,” said Fields. “The effects of the social matrix Nyota grew up in at Georgia State University are being expressed in his adult form now here in Des Moines. He is able to treat this baby in the same manner that he was treated.”
Fields added that in free-ranging or wild bonobos, there is shared rearing by males and females but it’s with juveniles, not infants. With chimpanzees, rearing is relegated to females.
Teco was born on June 1, 2010 and is the first baby bonobo at Great Ape Trust. He is the son of Kanzi and Elikya.
Please visit this Great Ape Trust page to see videos and slideshows of the bonobos, including babysitter Nyota at work.
Tags: Animal Behavior, Animals, Mammals, Photography, Primates
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