Media Credit: Blake Hamilton Associate professor Frances White spoke Wednesday night to a room filled with people curious about bobobos. White displayed slides and shared information about her experiences working with the apes in Congo.

Amidst civil war, a social environment that exhibits free love, peace and sexuality would be a startling find deep within the heart of the African Congo. But primatologist and University professor Frances White discovered groundbreaking evidence that affirms the ability of primates to demonstrate such behavior.

Unlike their cousin the chimpanzee, bonobo apes seem to embody the phrase "make love not war," as was articulated by White on Wednesday night at the OMSI Science Pub presentation in the downtown nightclub, Luna.

While studying the social behavior of bonobos in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, White found that females are generally the dominant members of society and that sex is a pleasurable pastime performed numerous times on any given day.

Although females can only reproduce once every five years, sex is not reserved for reproduction, nor is it restricted to just heterosexual encounters. In fact, all age and sex combinations are possible in the sexual interaction between bonobos.

"Penis fencing is a common activity among males," White said.

Bonobos also practice masturbation, which White joked is "one of those tool-use functions that doesn't make it into the literature."

Upon close observation, White found that bonobos are not only hyper-sexualized creatures, but they also seem to be very innovative in their non-monogamous encounters. They often have sex face-to-face while they "stare into each others eyes," White said.

In the bonobos' matriarchal social structure, females tend to form tight-knit groups that travel, feed and have sex together. White made it clear that sex comes before feeding, which is "not really like a dinner and a date."

Female bonobos also tend to eat before males. In fact, males never group together, but they do compete for the best access to the fruit tree upon which the females are feeding. However, food is not usually what they are competing for. After some mild aggression, the winning male usually finds his tension relieved in a sexual embrace with a female.

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