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The Case of the Bonobos

by Ailish M. Nic Phaidin
Brevard Technical Journal

Africa may be far away from us, you might think. The deep and largely impenetrable jungles of the Congo may appear even more remote from our everyday lives, you may also think. Mostly, I would agree. However, of late, the State of Iowa has brought us all closer to that vast continent, and the vast jungles of the Congo.

The Great Ape Trust in Iowa has brought us a 24-hour a day watch list from the Congolese jungles in the form of a group of apes known as bonobos. These apes, a species of chimpanzee, are supposedly renowned worldwide for their super-intelligence. The closest known species to this ape, according to my research, is mankind. They didn't mention womankind, so they must be of an even higher order. I'm just kidding, before you leap out of your seat and set forth to attack me. Of course, the "just kidding" part only applies to the woman-kind jibe.

Scientists estimate that the bonobos share 98.4% of their DNA with humans. That leaves a very small percentage for technological innovation, art, language and a whole raft of other considerations. Primate expert Sue Savage-Rumbaugh is convinced that activities previously thought by scientists to be the private domain of humans will now be proven in the bonobos kingdom.

A group of eight bonobos is ensconced in a $20 million 18-room house. The house has flushing toilets, vending machines, climbing walls, indoor waterfalls and a staff that would make the average CEO froth at the mouth.

Most human workplaces have excellent working conditions, but unlike the bonobos, people have less and less time to enjoy them since the 40-hour workweek is being extended more and more to something averaging a 60-hour workweek - often without recognition or compensation.

Ms Savage-Rumbaugh subscribes to the theory that mankind has gradually mastered skills such as art and language capabilities over the generations. It would appear to me that in the present-day workplace, we have mastered the art of language capability (somewhat), but we are not mastering the art of productivity within a timeframe, which must mean that we are employing too few people and our present staff is so overworked that they are incapable of reaching a standard productivity goal. More likely, employees do not have enough leisure and family time, thus leading to this stress being brought into the workplace.

The persistence of employer watchfulness in regard to the use of telephone and email communications has led to such fear amongst employees that a telephone call from a friend usually reaps an "I can't talk" response. Granted, there was a time not so long ago when these facilities were grossly abused by employees, however, a modicum of common sense by both employer and employee would go a very long way towards a compromise that would benefit everyone. Rules, if not abused, can and should contain a little elasticity to further advance workplace relations.

Then there is the sticky wicket of sick time. Many employees are at their workplaces when they are quite sick because of their fear of losing their job. I know one man who has lost only two days at work whilst undergoing chemotherapy for malignant and quite advanced cancer. He and his family are very fearful that if he takes "too much time off work" he'll lose his job!! This is never written down by an employer, yet somehow this message - which may or may not have any basis in fact - is quite prevalent. Yet the ongoing spate of CEO and corporate malfeasance is staggering in breadth and numbers.

The bonobos in the Great Ape Trust experiment are watched 24 hours a day on closed-circuit television cameras. That is, in essence, what is happening to employees. The apes are charged with showing their behavior under all circumstances while being "watched" under the guise of scientific research. But, the situation of the employer vs. the employee in the cauldron of the present day workplace of diminishing returns is allowed to fester and foster states of varying stages of burnout.

The obscure and unnatural research going on in Iowa should be abolished and the money spent on the effects of the extended work-day on employees. The bobonos will have all the time in the world to enjoy their lavish surroundings, but their captivity, I fear, will lead to negligible results.

One possible solution would be to have our CEOs spend a month in the Great Ape Trust housing development in Iowa to help them to understand more about the life of the bobonos. Such an experiment might help us understand what is the make-up of that illustrious almost 2% of DNA and shorten the distance between ourselves and the continent of Africa. That might be money well spent and it would not all be monkey business.