Bonobos have a reputation as lovers, not fighters. But the primate species — perhaps infamous for using sex as a conflict resolution tool — exhibits more complex behavior around mating than previously thought.
Male bonobos actually act more aggressively than male chimpanzees, but the way the two species uses violence or the threat of it differs dramatically, according to a new study in Current Biology.
“This study brings more complexity to the simple image of bonobo as the ‘make love not war’ ape,” says Maud Mouginot, a Boston University postdoc who conducted the observations as part of her Ph.D. research.
Mouginot's fieldwork observations revealed that male bonobos exhibited aggressive behavior almost exclusively toward males, while chimpanzees more often reserved their violence for females. And when chimp violence did occur among males, it often involved coalitions.
Hostility between male bonobos was much more likely to be one on one, and male ...
