Bonobos cooperate between groups

This is the first time this behavior has been observed outside of the human species: bonobos engage in friendly relationships with neighboring groups.

There is cooperation between bonobos that appears often without immediate benefit. A discovery about these great apes shows that they work together almost like humans. Mathilde Fontez, editor-in-chief of the scientific journal epsilon, comes back to it Estudies which again knocks man off his pedestal.

franceinfo: Are bonobos, these great apes who are among our closest cousins, also able to cooperate, to form friendships, outside of their group?

Mathilde Fontez: Outside of their family, yes. They are able to build strong and lasting relationships with neighbors who are not part of their small society. OYes, until then we thought it was unique to humans.

For example, the chimpanzee, our closest cousin, does not form any relationships outside of its group: males are more accustomed to patrolling the borders of their territory and launching deadly attacks when they encounter isolated strangers.

And this was discovered in bonobos, in their natural environment?

Yes, that’s what makes this study so compelling. Two specialists, Liran Samuni and Martin Surbeck, from Harvard University and the German Primate Center were able to track two groups of 31 bonobos in the Kokolopori Game Reserve in the Democratic Republic of Congo. They were able to document all the meetings of the two groups over a period of two years.

And the least we can say is that they experienced a lot of exchange: bonobos spend 20% of their time in the company of members of the other group. They travel together, rest together, groom each other, exchange food. They even team up to carry out attacks.

Why is this so surprising?

Because the benefit of these relationships is not obvious at the beginning. Of course, we see that we are better off with allies in the long term: by sharing food, we can better fight against food shortages, for example. But when a bonobo offers food to a group stranger with whom it has no connection, there is no indication that it will benefit it in return.

This assumes that bonobos are capable of permanent bonds, that they have established some kind of accounting system: this one did me a favor the other day, I’ll go to him. In short, they are able to accumulate social knowledge at a high level, outside of their group, like us. Moreover, it could be a clue to understanding how it all began: how we evolved towards this complex society.