Village Names for Bonobos

Zaire (now the Democratic of the Congo) is said to have 400 different dialects. One of the tactics I used to get people to open up, was to show interest in village culture and language. I asked people bringing apes to Kinshasa what their name for their animal was. I listed a name as "verified" if it was confirmed by two different interviews, or was a name documented in the literature. Some of the names sounded similar, such as "Elia," "Eja," and "Edia." Other names were "Keza," "Yatole," "Emana," and "Mbanda."

Anywhere in Zaire, there was an overlay of several languages. There was the dialect, a regional language, and French, the official national language. Lingala was one the country's regional languages, so the Lingala "Mokomboso" was used throughout bonobo territory for the species.

The French language distinguished between the "white-faced chimpanzee," and the "black-faced chimpanzee," (bonobo). It was confusing, because many villagers only knew their kind of local "chimpanzee" and were not aware that there were actually two species. That is why I tried to interview people from known localities, with animals of known species, to determine the actual local names.