Editing Kanzi (section)

== Biography ==
Kanzi was born to Lorel and Bosandjo at Yerkes Field Station at [[Emory University]] in 1980. Shortly after birth, Kanzi was stolen and adopted by a more dominant female, Matata, the matriarch of the group.{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}} 

In 1985, Kanzi was moved to the Language Research Center at [[Georgia State University]].  He was later relocated, along with his sister, Panbanisha, to the [[Great Ape Trust]], in [[Des Moines, Iowa]].  The ill-fated facility, founded in 2004 by local businessman, Ted Townsend, closed after losing funding, experiencing allegations of neglect, and a flood.{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}}  

In 2013, the Ape Cognition and Conservation Initiative (ACCI),<ref>{{Cite web|title=ACCI: Ape Cognition & Conservation Initiative|url=http://apeinitiative.org|access-date=2016-03-08|website=apeinitiative.org}}</ref> under the direction of Jared Taglialatela, a professor at [[Kennesaw State University]] in Georgia, and Bill Hopkins, a professor at Georgia State University, took over the facility.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Norvell|first=Kim|title=Baby apes may be coming to Iowa, home to the country's only bonobo research center|url=https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2018/04/24/iowa-ape-bonobo-research-expanding-mating/524553002/|access-date=2022-01-14|website=Des Moines Register|language=en-US}}</ref>

When the ACCI took over Kanzi's care in 2013, he was severely obese due to mismanagement of his diet and activity. His new caretakers changed Kanzi's diet to a more species-appropriate one and increased his opportunities for physical activity. Kanzi subsequently lost over seventy-five pounds.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Kanzi|url=https://www.apeinitiative.org/kanzi|access-date=2022-01-14|website=Ape Initiative|language=en-US}}</ref>

As an infant, Kanzi accompanied Matata to sessions where Matata was taught language through keyboard [[lexigram]]s, but showed little interest in the lessons. It was a great surprise to researchers then when one day, while Matata was away, Kanzi began competently using the lexigrams, becoming not only the first observed ape to have learned aspects of language naturalistically rather than through direct training, but also the first observed bonobo to appear to use some elements of language at all.<ref name="Savage"/><ref name= "Mitani"/> Within a short time, Kanzi had mastered the ten words that researchers had been struggling to teach his adoptive mother, and since learned a further 348, which he could also combine for new meaning.  When he heard a spoken word (through headphones, to filter out nonverbal clues), he pointed to the correct lexigram. He can initiate communication using the lexigrams.  Sue Savage Rumbaugh, in 2006, claimed Kanzi understood about 3,000 spoken words.<ref name="Savage"/><ref name="Mitani"/><ref name=":0" />

According to a ''[[Discover (magazine)|Discover]]'' article, Kanzi was an accomplished tool user.<ref>{{cite journal | journal = [[Discover (magazine)|Discover]] |date=September 1994 | title = Ape at the Brink}}</ref>

Kanzi's adoptive mother, Matata, was believed to be in her mid- to late- 40s when she died in June 2014.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Finney|first1=Daniel|title=Bonobo Matata dies at Des Moines ape conservation|url=http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2014/06/22/bonobo-matata-des-moines-death/11245783/|access-date=27 June 2014|agency=The Desmoines Register|date=June 22, 2014}}</ref> In the [[matriarchy|matriarchal society]] of bonobos, a male's position is primarily determined by the position of the females he is related to. Matata was the group's chief leader so his status as the highest ranking male was established by being adopted as her "son". According to Smithsonian Magazine, Kanzi "has the mien of an aging patriarch&nbsp;– he's balding and paunchy with serious, deep-set eyes."<ref name=":0">Raffaele, ''Smithsonian'', November 2006.</ref> This description is confirmed by a full-page color photograph of Kanzi in the March 2008 ''[[National Geographic (magazine)|National Geographic]]'', and a full-page black-and-white photograph in ''Time'' magazine.<ref>''Time'', August 16, 2010.</ref>

Kanzi died on March 18, 2025, at the age of 44. His death was announced the following day, on March 19, by the Ape Initiative where Kanzi lived in Des Moines.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://apeinitiative.org/remembering-kanzi |title=Remembering Kanzi |website=Ape Initiative |access-date=19 March 2025}}</ref>