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Female relationships in bonobos(Pan paniscus)

Evidence for bonding, cooperation, and female dominance in a male-philopatric species

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Abstract

The popular belief that women are not naturally able to bond with each other is often supported by theoretical and empirical evidence that unrelated females do not bond in nonhuman primate species. Bonobos (rare and endangered African apes, also known as pygmy chimpanzees) are (with their congener, chimpanzees) the closest living relatives of humans and appear to be an exception to this characterization. Data collected on individuals representing half of the world’s captive population reveal that bonobo females are remarkably skillful in establishing and maintaining strong affiliative bonds with each other despite being unrelated. Moreover, they control access to highly desirable food, share it with each other more often than with males, engage in same-sex sexual interactions in order to reduce tension, and form alliances in which they cooperatively attack males and inflict injuries. Their power does not stem from a size equality with or advantage over males (in fact, females average 82.5% of male size), but rather from cooperation and coalition formation. The immediate advantage to female alliances is increased control over food, the main resource on which their reproductive success depends, as well as a reduction in other costs typically associated with a female-biased dispersal system, such as male agonism in the contexts of feeding competition and sexual coercion. The ultimate advantage of friendly relationships among females is an earlier age at first reproduction, which results in a large increase in lifetime reproductive success. Analysis of this bonding phenomenon sheds light on when, where, and how we should expect unrelated human females to bond with one another by demonstrating that bonding is not dependent on access to one’s relatives but rather on an environmental situation in which female aggregation is possible, coupled with an incentive for cooperation.

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  1. Department of Anthropology, University of California-Davis, 95616, Davis, CA

    Amy Randall Parish

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The L. S. B. Leakey Foundation generously funded this research under the grants “Reproductive and Nonreproductive Aspects of Bonobo Socio-Sexual Behavior (I and II).” Sigma-Xi Grants In Aid of Research and the University of California-Davis Humanities Research Award provided additional funding. Drs. Sarah Hrdy and Kelly Stewart offered valuable suggestions for improving the manuscript, and their careful editing is very much appreciated. Drs. Sarah Hrdy and Frans de Waal offered assistance, advice, and inspiration in all stages of the project. Dr. Volker Sommer kindly helped with the tables and figures. Pat Hamilton (San Diego Zoological Society Mammal Department) and Frans de Waal (Yerkes Primate Research Center and Emory University) graciously allowed me to include information from material currently in preparation. Many people at the San Diego Zoological Society and Wild Animal Park (especially Randy Reiches, curator of mammals; Dr. Don Lindburg, Center for Reproduction of Endangered Species; Pat Hamilton, Brenda Cahill, and Lorie Monroe, bonobo keepers), the Frankfurt Zoo (especially Horst Klose, head great ape keeper; Dr. Stefan Stadler, curator; Dr. Christian Schmidt, director; and Dr. Richard Faust, former director), and the Wilhelma Zoologisch-Botanischer Garten (especially Dr. Marianne Holtkötter, curator and assistent director; Dr. Dieter Jauch, director; Heinz Scharpf, head great ape keeper; and Ralf Schirsching and Silke Scharpf, bonobo keepers) provided generous and crucial assistance and support. Dr. Patty Gowaty and an anonymous reviewer offered insightful and important suggestions for manuscript revision.

Amy Parish received her B.G.S. from the University of Michigan in 1989 and her M.S. from the University of California-Davis in 1990. She is currently a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Anthropology, University of California-Davis. Her dissertation work focuses on sociosexual behavior and female-female relationships in the bonobo (Pan paniscus). In addition to the work cited herein, she is also currently assessing the relationship between sexual behavior and endocrinological profiles in female bonobos.

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Parish, A.R. Female relationships in bonobos(Pan paniscus) . Human Nature 7, 61–96 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02733490

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