Known to be peaceful, bonobos are more feisty than we imagined

by time news

2024-04-19 14:34:12

Maud Mouginot – The Best of Maud Mouginot (The Best of Maud Mouginot)

ANALYSE – The more quarrelsome males mate more often with females, for a reason that remains to be established.

You have to be wary of bonobos. Beneath their peaceful appearance, these monkeys sometimes described as “hippies” actually hide violent behavior, not very different from other large primates. With one nuance. While the violence of chimpanzees is often intense and indiscriminate, sometimes going as far as infanticide, that of bonobos is more measured and targeted. Male bonobos fight almost exclusively among themselves and do not kill each other. A study conducted by French researcher Maud Mouginot, currently based at Boston University, and published in the journal Current Biologyfurther reveals that this fighting behavior is more successful with females.

« Previous work had revealed more reproductive inequality between males in bonobos than in chimpanzees, explains Maud Mouginot. This could indicate the existence of intense competition between males. We therefore wanted to study and compare the aggressive strategies of these two…

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