Bonobo Kids

Bonobo Kid's Book and Website Bring Environmental Action to Children and Help to Endangered Species

Vineyard Haven, MA (PRWEB) May 21, 2008 -- Jane Goodall provided the afterword and stunning backdrop for a new children's book and interactive website that connects children to endangered bonobos and the environment through awareness and action. Author Mathea Levine and photographer Marian Brickner introduce the world to a young bonobo who lives in the Jacksonville Zoo in I'm Lucy: A Day in the Life of a Young Bonobo. All profits from the book benefit the Bonobo Conservation Initiative (BCI) and Jane Goodall's youth organization, Roots and Shoots, when bought through the Bonobo Kids interactive website, Bonobo Kids (www.bonobokids.org).

"I'm Lucy and the Bonobo Kids website extend the work we're doing at BCI to the next generation of stewards for the Earth and its creatures," says Sally Jewell Coxe, president and co-founder of the Bonobo Conservation Initiative. "Mathea and Marian have captured all that make bonobos so special - their human likeness, their playfulness and their capacity to love. They are making a wonderful way for kids to learn, to get involved and to really make a difference."

Bonobos share 98.7% of human DNA and are distinguished from other great apes by their matriarchal and cooperative society. While over 100 bonobos like Lucy and her family currently live in zoos, wild bonobos are found only in the Democratic Republic of Congo where they are often hunted and their habitat is at risk from human encroachment and environmental destruction. In recent years, the bonobo population has dropped drastically, placing these endangered creatures devastatingly close to total extinction.

"It's wonderful that the lives of our Zoo's bonobo family, one of the most endangered species, were communicated in such way that children and adults alike can enjoy and learn," said Janet Johnson, Director of Guest Operations and Marketing at Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens. "If you weren't in love with these primates before seeing them and reading about them in this book, you surely will be afterwards."

At the Bonobo Kids website, kids and their adults find expanded information about bonobos, great apes, other endangered species and the environment. On the inside cover of I'm Lucy, readers find a secret password that allows them to garner detailed information about specific bonobos around the world. The Bonobo Challenge Blog keeps kids involved and in the know while also hosting contests, setting creative challenges and highlighting Bonobo Kids who perform extraordinary green, humanitarian and animal rights acts.

Bonobo Kids will be featured at the Bonobo Benefit for BCI sponsored by Peter Gabriel's organization, Inter-Species Internet, at Jivamukti Yoga School, May 31st 8:00-10:30pm, 841 Broadway, Manhattan featuring music by Tony Levin and Wynne Paris and a presentation for Sally Jewell Coxe.