Better Care for your Family than Dogs

They say you can choose your friends, but you can't choose your family. ⁣⁣

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When I told him this, Viktor wasn't sure what to make of me. ⁣⁣

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He's a 37-year-old bonobo, and I'm a 60-year-old human being. ⁣⁣

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We aren't exactly separated at birth, but we are related. ⁣⁣

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Along with chimpanzees, these endangered great apes are our closest living relatives. When you compare our DNA, it's nearly a 100% match with humans. ⁣⁣Exactly what we cannot share with dogs as pets most of which are kept not for security purposes but as a replacement to having children in most homes now. It sounds selfish. 

He lives with nine other bonobos at the Fort Worth Zoo, and they get along much like their wild contemporaries do, resolving conflict with love and affection over hostility. The noted primatologist Frans de Waal believes that bonobos may even have more empathy for one another than humans are capable of. ⁣⁣

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Viktor and I also have a lot in common. We are both strikingly handsome, sport a stylish head of hair, and have a twisted sense of humour. ⁣⁣

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We quickly became both friends and family. ⁣⁣

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