• HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
Friday, October 31, 2025
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News Biology

Love thy neighbor: Cooperation extends beyond one’s own group in wild bonobos

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
November 16, 2023
in Biology
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0
Bonobo social cooperation
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

A new study published this week in Science challenges the notion that only humans are capable of forming strong and strategic cooperative relationships and sharing resources across non-family groups. Researchers from Harvard University and the German Primate Center examined the pro-social behavior of bonobos (Pan paniscus), one of humanity’s closest living relatives, finding that their cooperation extends beyond one’s own group to societal cooperation with different groups.

Bonobo social cooperation

Credit: Martin Surbeck/Harvard University

A new study published this week in Science challenges the notion that only humans are capable of forming strong and strategic cooperative relationships and sharing resources across non-family groups. Researchers from Harvard University and the German Primate Center examined the pro-social behavior of bonobos (Pan paniscus), one of humanity’s closest living relatives, finding that their cooperation extends beyond one’s own group to societal cooperation with different groups.

Studying humans’ two closest living relatives, chimpanzees and bonobos, can help reconstruct ancestral human traits like cooperation and conflict. Despite living in similar social groups composed of several adult members of both sexes, the two species are fundamentally different in how they interact across social groups. Among chimpanzees, our more studied relatives, relationships between different groups are predominantly hostile, and lethal aggression is not uncommon. As a result, models of human evolution often assume that group hostility and violence are innate to human nature.

Studying the bonobos unearths a different story. The endangered bonobos are notoriously difficult to study in their natural habitat, as they only live in remote, largely inaccessible parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Harvard Professor Martin Surbeck and senior author on the study, who established and directs the research in the Kokolopori Bonobo Reserve, notes: “It is through strong collaborations with and the support of the local Mongandu population in Kokolopori, in whose ancestral forest the bonobos roam, that studies of this fascinating species become possible.”

Surbeck continued: “Research sites like Kokolopori substantially contribute not only to our understanding of the species’ biology and our evolutionary history, but also play a vital role in the conservation of this endangered species.”

When different groups of bonobos meet, they often travel, rest, and feed together. Unlike chimpanzees, researchers have not observed bonobo disputes that lead to lethal aggression. “Tracking and observing multiple groups of bonobos in Kokolopori, we’re struck by the remarkable levels of tolerance between members of different groups. This tolerance paves the way for pro-social cooperative behaviors such as forming alliances and sharing food across groups, a stark contrast to what we see in chimpanzees” says Dr. Liran Samuni, an Emmy Noether group leader at the German Primate Center in Göttingen and the lead author of this study.

The study finds that the bonobos do not interact randomly between groups. Instead, cooperation happens between a select few. “They preferentially interact with specific members of other groups who are more likely to return the favor, resulting in strong ties between pro-social individuals” says Surbeck. “Such connections are also key aspects of the cooperation seen in human societies.”

“Bonobos show us that the ability to maintain peaceful between-group relationships while extending acts of pro-sociality and cooperation to out-group members is not uniquely human,” says Surbeck.

Samuni added: “The ability to study how cooperation emerges in a species so closely related to humans challenges existing theory, or at least provides insights into the conditions that promote between-group cooperation over conflict.”

Human cultures, traditions, and social norms enable cooperation across our societies. The importance of this cooperation between different human groups is undisputed. It leads to the exchange of ideas, the spread of innovations, and the accumulation of knowledge over space and time. Human networks foster the exchange of resources, resulting in the trade of materials and goods that can offset shortfalls. Bonobos also share resources across groups, and they do so without any strong cultural influence.

The study’s authors emphasize the similarities between bonobo social cooperation and humans’.

According to the authors, the insights from bonobos should challenge the idea that culture and social norms are necessary components for cooperation between groups to emerge. The bonobos show that constant warfare between neighboring groups is not necessarily a human legacy and does not seem evolutionarily inevitable, the authors say.



Journal

Science

DOI

10.1126/science.adg0844

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

Animals

Article Title

Cooperation across social borders in bonobos

Article Publication Date

17-Nov-2023

Share12Tweet8Share2ShareShareShare2

Related Posts

Unexpected Breakthrough: Student’s Research Uncovers Crucial New Insights into HPV

Unexpected Breakthrough: Student’s Research Uncovers Crucial New Insights into HPV

October 31, 2025
Sheathed Flagellum Structures Explain Vibrio cholerae Motility

Sheathed Flagellum Structures Explain Vibrio cholerae Motility

October 31, 2025

Electrostatic Shifts Drive Exocyst Subunit Diversification

October 31, 2025

Breakthrough Study Reveals Innovative Method to Target Cell Receptors, Paving the Way for Expanded Treatment Options

October 31, 2025

POPULAR NEWS

  • Sperm MicroRNAs: Crucial Mediators of Paternal Exercise Capacity Transmission

    1294 shares
    Share 517 Tweet 323
  • Stinkbug Leg Organ Hosts Symbiotic Fungi That Protect Eggs from Parasitic Wasps

    312 shares
    Share 125 Tweet 78
  • ESMO 2025: mRNA COVID Vaccines Enhance Efficacy of Cancer Immunotherapy

    202 shares
    Share 81 Tweet 51
  • New Study Suggests ALS and MS May Stem from Common Environmental Factor

    136 shares
    Share 54 Tweet 34

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent News

Microwave Extraction of Starch from Litchi Kernels

AI Awareness and Adoption in Greater Kumasi Residents

Myeloid Cell Signaling Identified as Key Driver of Immunotherapy Resistance in Kidney Cancer

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 67 other subscribers
  • Contact Us

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.