Bonobos: Unique in mind, brain, and behavior

Draws from cutting-edge science to illustrate the central role that bonobos play in testing hypotheses relating to the processes by which evolution shapes primate (including human) cognition.

Brian Hare, Associate Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology, Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at Duke University, USA,Shinya Yamamoto, Associate Professor, Kobe University, Japan

Dr Brian Hare is an associate professor of Evolutionary Anthropology and a member of the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at Duke University in the United States. Since 2007, he has published over two dozen peer-reviewed empirical papers on the cognition, behavior, physiology, morphology, and evolution of the bonobo. He has studied bonobos in zoos, African sanctuaries and in the wild. His research focuses on identifying unique cognitive traits as well as understanding evolutionary processes that produce them.

Dr Shinya Yamamoto is an associate professor at Kobe University in Japan. He has published research on both wild and captive chimpanzees. More recently he began studying the behavior of wild bonobos at the Wamba field site in the Democratic Republic of Congo. His research concentrates on the evolution of cooperation, culture, and understanding others.