HISTORICALLY considered a more peaceful species than their chimpanzee cousins, bonobos are actually just as aggressive — but target their ire most often at males, according to a study published Wednesday.
Living in matriarchal societies, the gentle-eyed primates once dubbed “hippy apes” are far from violence-free, a group of European researchers reported in the journal Science Advances.
They studied 13 groups of bonobos and nine groups of chimpanzees — who conversely live in patriarchal systems and are well known for their aggressivity — in zoos, seeking to find out which is more prone to attacks.
Measuring different types of aggressive behaviour, both physical and not — such as throwing objects, intimidation, or biting and slapping — they found “no overall differences in absolute aggression rates between the two species.” However, differences emerged “in how the aggression is distributed among group members”, co-author Nicky Staes told AFP.
AFP
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