1. Danny Learns Something New at the Zoo Contributor: Kalyn Profilet

2. Danny’s favorite thing to do is go to the zoo. His favorite exhibit is the primate area because he thinks the chimpanzees are so similar to him!

3. The last time Danny went to the zoo he noticed there was a new enclosure with animals that were like him too! They were bonobos. Wow! He reminds me so much of myself!

4. Danny was very interested in both the chimpanzees and the bonobos. He could talk about them all day! He asked the tour guide which one of these animals was more similar to him. I wonder which one is more like me? Chimpanzee Bonobo

5. The nice tour guide explained to Danny that this is a very difficult question to answer and that it is actually a hot debate among scientists right now. Well son, there is a 98% chimp/human DNA similarity and around the same amount with a bonobo.

6. The nice tour guide saw that Danny was confused and decided to call a few of her specialist coworkers over to explain it to Danny.

7. The scientists introduced themselves to Danny. Hi Danny! My name is Dr. Dave and I work with the DNA inside the primates! Hi there! My name is Linda and I study the social lives of the primates. Hey Danny boy! My name is Steve and I research how the primate is built. I call it the anatomy!

8. Danny was so excited to talk about his two new favorite animals, the bonobo and the chimp, and how they were similar to him! I’m so excited to learn about the animals! Tell me more about their social lives! I would love to Danny!

9. Mrs. Linda tells Danny about the social life of a chimpanzee and bonobo… Well to start off, the bonobo’s life is run by the girls while the chimps are run by the boys! Haha! That’s funny because my mom always likes to say she runs things but American families always take the dad’s last name! I guess my mom would like to live in a bonobo’s world.

10. I want to learn more Mrs. Linda! You sure are info hungry Danny! Well both bonobos and chimps live in “families” with lots of boys and girls! Also, chimpanzees tend to be a lot meaner than bonobos, yikes!

11. Danny was very interested in learning more from the scientists! This is so interesting and exciting! I’d rather be friends with a bonobo, then! It’s so great you’re excited about this, Danny! Chimps and Bonobos can also be excited about things like you, they have both been observed having emotions.

12. WOW! They’re more like me than I thought!! Tell me about the DNA stuff you were talking about, Dr. Dave! Well Danny, DNA is what makes up who you and me are. We are born with a set of codes that tells our body what to do and what to look like. All living things have DNA! It looks like this…

13. Danny wanted to know more about DNA and how it made people so similar to chimpanzees and bonobos You see Danny, believe it or not, the animals behind you are 98% the same as yourself, DNA wise.

14. Wow that’s insane! I would have never guess they’re that much like me. Does one of them have more similar DNA to me than the other? Well that’s a common dispute but bonobos may have more similar DNA to us by just a tiny percent because they have not adapted to as many different homes like the chimp.

15. After all this time, Danny was still asking questions. Can you tell me more about the anatomozy? Haha! Danny, you mean anatomy. If you look at your own hands you’ll notice that you can move your thumbs separately from your other fingers. Chimps and bonobos can do this too!

16. Oh yea!! Their thumbs must help them open all those bananas! Yes, here at the zoo they certainly do! But in the wild, chimps and bonobos don’t come in contact with bananas as much. Which brings us to our second topic, their digestion methods! Chimps and bonobos don’t have the same tubes in their tummies as you do! They’re different lengths than yours and mine.

17. As Danny was leaving the park, he had one final question… So I think after all I’ve learned today about chimps and bonobos, I’d say us humans are more like the bonobos because of their more similar DNA and their attitudes. What do you guys think? We’d say you’re on the right track Danny!