Bonobo infant, San Diego Zoo [REUTERS 2005-03-22] REUTERS/Ho
Critically endangered infant bonobo, named Makasi, explores his outdoor enclosure for the first time, March 22, 2005, as he is slowly integrated with a bonobo troop, at the San Diego Zoo. Makasi had to be hand-reared in the Children's Zoo primate nursery after his mother at the San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park rejected him shortly after birth. Bonobos are a very rare, and critically endangered species of great ape native to the forests and lowlands of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Incorrectly but commonly called "pygmy chimpanzee" this species is only slightly smaller than the more commonly recognized species of chimpanzee and has dark pigmentation on its feet, hands and face. NO SALES