Kanzi has been filmed making music, building a fire, and crafting simple stone tools. More than 400 scientific papers, as well as many books document the near human capabilities of the bonobos and films portraying their achievements have been broadcast worldwide.
Extensive coverage by media and celebrities such as Oprah, Anderson Cooper, 60 Minutes (in Australia), BBC, Paul McCartney and Peter Gabriel have provided extensive publicity to Bonobo Hope.
Published in 1994, the book Kanzi, the Ape at the Brink of the Human Mind co-authored by Roger Lewin (coauthor with Richard Leakey of Origins) and Sue Savage-Rumbaugh tells the remarkable story of Kanzi (then age 14) who understands spoken English well enough that his teachers spell out words they don’t want him to hear. He asks and answers questions and invents games by manipulating an electronic keyboard. His accomplishments prove chimps can spontaneously acquire language skills through social interaction in a language-rich environment.