I have been following this research for a very long time. Humans are primates and share very nearly all the same DNA as the rest of the taxonomic family.
Since we have (or at least the opportunity to have) even greater development of the tools of rationality in our brains, it is clear we are even more capable of deciding which aspects of our biological heritage to accept, which to embrace, and which to firmly control- but this is KNOWN now, or should be, by everyone; throughout most of history, this was not the case- but it's the saints and sages (and the great teachers and philosophers) who understood this in an indirect way and taught those who would listen. Prior to the advent and spread of empirical science throughout most of the cultures of the world, religion has been the ONLY systematic tool to educate entire societies, like it or not.
Another issue that never gets addressed is that science is not easy, and therefore teaching it properly is not easy. Primates, ALL primates, will seek the easiest method- and since I am certain de Waal does not have the methods to communicate with bonobos in any sophisticated way to determine any such thing, his claim they do not have any church shows his shallow understanding of religion (of course they don't have any such buildings, as they don't BUILD structures at all), and he has no clue whether they have anything that could fit the description and/or function of philosophy.
I would not be at all surprised if any or all higher primates have SOMETHING in their minds (and they indubitably have minds, based on their behavior) that approximates some meta-reasoning that could be called philosophy or religion. I'm not claiming that, simply hypothesizing. This should be falsifiable in a relatively straightforward manner.
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Thanks for your extensive feedback. Your views were more or less the same as lot of media and journalist went on stating about the statement of De Waal. What I understood from the in-depth interview with De Waal last Sunday is that he wanted to make a strong statement to get more of the scientific community and also the mass to understand humans are not only very close to the chimpanzee but also to the bonobo. Apparently, not so many scientist look at the bonobo at all. And interestingly the bonobo has very human like behaviours, but in manu aspect the opposite of the chimpanzee. The bonobo combined with the chimpanzee seem to gives many of the basic behaviours of humans. Now, making a statement like De Waal did, is controversial, but that caused media attention and that resulted in more awareness of the Bonobo. De Waal seemed to me a very rational person, during the entire 3 hours interview I saw. And he likes the bonobo as other species that have similar behaviours like the bonobo. Religion, well that is indeed not about buildings are other physical things. But to me, religion is something to believe in but not question the things that cannot be explained, However I do realise that religion gave the basic rules for society, those rules are generally the first so many basic laws we have. So although I understand religion was fundamental for larger societies to be able to exist and function, I personally am not religious at all since I dont like the unexplainable to just take it as it is). Up to some point, you could argue Science also to be a form of religion, since in science many assumption are made. However science is much more dynamic then any religion on earth, meaning, science is always looking for answers, and while finding those answers, we realise some assumptions are wrong, science is removing those assumptions and making new ones. That is what I like of science, it is not based on some more or less fixed believe but dynamic by nature.