bonobos

"We didn't pay 37 million zlotys for the largest elephant house in Europe to have a gay elephant live there," said Michal Grzes, a conservative councillor in the Polish city of Poznan, Reuters reported last Friday.

Bonobos, along with chimpanzees and orangutans, are humans’ closest genetic relatives, and are frequently studied for clues about the nature of human evolution. These Great Apes are, as it turns out, a lot like us, but a recent study reveals something about bonobos that we’d perhaps rather not know. Often referred to as the “hippie” apes (partially because bonobos have a lot of casual sex . . a perfectly acceptable “Hey, how’s it going?” in bonobo-speak), bonobos don’t quite live up to the moniker, it appears.