Though the size of the bonobo population is largely unknown, it has likely been declining for the last 30 years. Scientists believe the decline will continue for the next 45 to 55 years due to the bonobo’s low reproductive rate and growing threats.

The bonobo population is believed to have declined sharply in the last 30 years, though surveys have been hard to carry out in war-ravaged central Congo. Estimates range from 60,000 to fewer than 50,000 living, according to the World Wildlife Fund.

Bonobos are among humanity’s closest relatives. Genetic analysis suggests that the line leading to modern humans ( Homo sapiens) and the lineage containing bonobos and chimpanzees diverged between about 6.5 million and 9.3 million years ago.

Increased awareness by the locals, resumption of forest exploitation, and human population displacements may be factors in the more recent high number of bonobos being confiscated. Education of children and civil servants are important aspects of the bonobo conservation efforts.

In the popular press, estimates of the remaining bonobo population usually fall within the range of 10,000 to 50,000 individual animals. But the IUCN’s 2016 assessment of bonobos pointed out some of the limitations of those estimates.