A new study of our two closest living relatives finds that, at least in zoos, bonobos may not be more peaceful than chimpanzees. Bonobos (Pan paniscus) are only found south of the Congo River in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where food is abundant and evenly distributed. Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) range across West, Central and East Africa, where food can be variable and patchy. Different environmental pressures may have contributed to divergent social behavior between the closely related species. Chimpanzee societies are male-dominant, territorial, and marked by frequent aggression toward other groups. In bonobo societies, females often equal or outrank males, and they have a reputation for more peaceful intergroup relations. Bonobo females form coalitions to suppress male aggression. However, new findings are adding nuance: One recent comparative analysis challenged bonobos’ “hippy” image; and another recent paper documents the first known death of an infant bonobo resulting from an intergroup encounter. Building on this framework, Emile Bryon of Utrecht University in the Netherlands led a group of researchers in comparing aggression between chimpanzees and bonobos in zoos, where environmental conditions are more controlled. Their findings, published in Science Advances, compared behaviors such as chasing, hitting, wrestling and biting in nine groups of chimpanzees and 13 groups of bonobos housed in 16 European zoos. They found no difference in rates of overall aggression, or more severe contact aggression, between zoo-housed chimpanzees and bonobos. However, they did find species-level differences in who used aggression. Male chimpanzees were more aggressive than females, while…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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