Why Call It Bonobo?

Belgian colonialists ponder chimp-like animals in a crate mislabeled "BONOBO" in this cartoon that Kizito and I created for a children's pamphlet. In Lingala, the men, from left to right say:

"Bolobo?"

"They look like chimpanzees to me."

"I think this is something else."

"Where did they come from?"

"I think they came from bonobo."

From Grains of Golden Sand:

"Natural history books cite 1929 as the year when the bonobo was discovered by a Belgian scientist who questioned the fused sutures on a small “chimp” skull that had been in a museum for years. The name “bonobo” is thought to be a corruption of “Bolobo”—a frontier outpost from whence specimens may have originated. Thus, the bonobo joined the short list of large mammals first described by science in the 20th century.

"But was it? Careful sleuthing led scientist Jo Thompson of Oxford to consult old, obscure documents. It turned out that a “southern chimpanzee” had been discussed and photographed many times before 1929. According to her investigation, the first scientific naming of the species was in 1887 by a German named Noack, who called it the “marungensis” ape. Following taxonomic rules, the first name takes precedence, so Pan paniscus should really be Pan marugensis. Taxonomists agreed that Thompson’s arguments for marugensis were sound, but they preferred the newer, less valid label due to custom, usage, and tradition. Thus, the name endures: Pan paniscus."