and Dr. Edwards had met.
Six years ago Kevin had never heard of a bonobo. But that changed
rapidly when bonobos were selected as the subjects for his GenSys
project. He now knew they were exceptional creatures. They were cousins
of chimpanzees but had lived in isolation in a
twenty-five-thousand-square-mile patch of virginal jungle in central
Zaire for one and a half million years. In contrast to chimps, bonobo
society was matriarchal with less male aggression. Hence, the bonobos
were able to live in larger groups. Some people called them pygmy
chimpanzees but the name was a misnomer because some bonobos were
actually larger than some chimpanzees, and they were a distinct species.
Kevin found Dr. Edwards in front of a relatively small acclimatization
cage. He was reaching through the bars making tentative contact with an
adult female bonobo.
Another female bonobo was sitting against the back wall of the cage. Her
eyes were nervously darting around her new accommodations. Kevin could
sense her terror.
Dr. Edwards was hooting softly in imitation of one of the many bonobo
and chimpanzee sounds of communication. He was a relatively tall man, a
good three or four inches over Kevin’s five foot ten. His hair was a
shocking white which contrasted dramatically with his almost black
eyebrows and eyelashes. The sharply demarcated eyebrows combined with a
habit of wrinkling his forehead gave him a perpetually surprised look.
Kevin watched for a moment. Dr. Edwards’s obvious rapport with the
animals had been something Kevin had appreciated from their first
meeting. Kevin sensed it was an intuitive talent and not something
learned, and it always impressed him.
‘Excuse me,’ Kevin said finally.
Dr. Edwards jumped as if he’d been frightened. Even the bonobo shrieked
and fled to the back of the cage.
‘I’m terribly sorry,’ Kevin said.
Dr. Edwards smiled and put a hand to his chest. ‘No need to be sorry. I
was just so intent I didn’t hear you approach.’
‘I certainly didn’t mean to frighten you, Dr. Edwards,’ Kevin began,
‘but I . . .’
‘Kevin, please! If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a dozen times: my
name is Bertram. I mean, we’ve known each other for five years. Don’t
you think first names are more appropriate?’
‘Of course,’ Kevin said.
‘It’s serendipitous you should come,’ Bertram said. ‘Meet our two newest
breeding females.’ Bertram gestured toward the two apes who’d inched
away from the back wall. Kevin’s arrival had frightened them, but they
were now curious.
Kevin gazed in at the dramatically anthropomorphic faces of the two
primates. Bonobo’s faces were less prognathous than their cousins, the
chimpanzees, and hence considerably more human. Kevin always found
looking into bonobos’ eyes disconcerting.
‘Healthy-appearing animals,’ Kevin commented, not knowing how else to
respond.
‘They were just trucked in from Zaire this morning,’ Bertram said. ‘It’s
about a thousand miles as the crow flies. But by the circuitous route
they had to take to get across the borders of the Congo and Gabon, they
probably traveled three times that.’
‘That’s the equivalent of driving across the U.S.,’ Kevin said.
‘In terms of distance,’ Bertram agreed. ‘But here they probably didn’t
see more than short stretches of pavement. It’s an arduous trip no
matter how you look at it.’
‘They look like they are in good shape,’ Kevin said. He wondered how
he’d appear if he’d made the journey jammed into wooden boxes and hidden
in the back of a truck.
‘By this time I’ve got the drivers pretty well trained,’ Bertram said.
‘They treat ’em better than they treat their own wives. They know if the
apes die, they don’t get paid. It’s a pretty good incentive.’
‘With our demand going up they’ll be put to good use,’ Kevin said.
‘You’d better believe it,’ Bertram said. ‘These two are already spoken
for, as you know. If they pass all the tests, which I’m certain they
will, we’ll be over to your lab in the next couple of days. I want to
watch again. I think you are a genius. And Melanie . . . Well, I’ve
never seen such hand-eye coordination, even if you include an eye
surgeon I used to know back in the States.’