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The Other “Closest Living Relative”: How Bonobos ( Pan paniscus ) Challenge Traditional Assumptions about Females, Dominance, Intra‐ and Intersexual Interactions, and Hominid Evolution
Author(s) -
PARISH AMY R.,
DE WAAL FRANS B. M.,
HAIG DAVID
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2000.tb06618.x
Subject(s) - pan paniscus , bonobo , troglodytes , philopatry , dominance (genetics) , biology , pongidae , zoology , evolutionary biology , ecology , geography , demography , sociology , biological dispersal , population , biochemistry , gene
A bstract : Chimpanzee ( Pan troglodytes ) societies are typically characterized as physically aggressive, male‐bonded and male‐dominated. Their close relatives, the bonobos ( Pan paniscus ), differ in startling and significant ways. For instance, female bonobos bond with one another, form coalitions, and dominate males. A pattern of reluctance to consider, let alone acknowledge, female dominance in bonobos exists, however. Because both species are equally “man's” closest relative, the bonobo social system complicates models of human evolution that have historically been based upon referents that are male and chimpanzee‐like. The bonobo evidence suggests that models of human evolution must be reformulated such that they also accommodate: real and meaningful female bonds; the possibility of systematic female dominance over males; female mating strategies which encompass extra‐group paternities; hunting and meat distribution by females; the importance of the sharing of plant foods; affinitive inter‐community interactions; males that do not stalk and attack and are not territorial; and flexible social relationships in which philopatry does not necessarily predict bonding pattern.