Academic Journal
Reassuring body contact promotes social tolerance in bonobos and chimpanzees.
| Τίτλος: | Reassuring body contact promotes social tolerance in bonobos and chimpanzees. |
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| Συγγραφείς: | Brooker JS; Psychology Department, Durham University, Durham DH1 3LE, UK.; Department of Biology, Utrecht University, Utrecht 3584 CH, The Netherlands., Goldsborough Z; Ecology of Animal Societies, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Konstanz, Baden-Wuerttemberg 78467, Germany.; Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Baden-Wuerttemberg 78464, Germany., van Leeuwen EJC; Department of Biology, Utrecht University, Utrecht 3584 CH, The Netherlands.; Department for Comparative Cultural Psychology, Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig 04103, Germany., Kordon S; Psychology Department, Durham University, Durham DH1 3LE, UK., Webb CE; Department of Environmental Studies, NYU, New York, NY 10003, USA., Clay Z; Psychology Department, Durham University, Durham DH1 3LE, UK. |
| Πηγή: | Proceedings. Biological sciences [Proc Biol Sci] 2026 Jul 01; Vol. 293 (2075). |
| Τύπος έκδοσης: | Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't |
| Γλώσσα: | English |
| Στοιχεία περιοδικού: | Publisher: Royal Society of London Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 101245157 Publication Model: Print Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1471-2954 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 09628452 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Proc Biol Sci Subsets: MEDLINE |
| Imprint Name(s): | Original Publication: London : Royal Society of London, c1990- |
| Ιατρικοί όροι (MeSH): | Pan paniscus*/physiology , Pan paniscus*/psychology , Pan troglodytes*/physiology , Pan troglodytes*/psychology , Social Behavior*, Animals ; Male ; Female ; Feeding Behavior |
| Περίληψη: | Social tolerance underpins cooperation in humans and other social animals, but its proximate drivers in short-term, competitive contexts remain poorly understood. Reassurance behaviours may enable individuals to pre-empt conflict and signal benign intent, facilitating social tolerance. We tested whether reassuring body contact during anticipation of a collective feeding event promotes cofeeding tolerance in our closest primate relatives. Using a controlled cofeeding paradigm across five semi-wild bonobo and chimpanzee groups (n = 116 individuals), we quantified pre-feeding affiliative contact and measured access to a restricted, depleting food zone. In both species, increased affiliative body contact enhanced subsequent cofeeding tolerance in most groups. Bonobo female-female pairs and chimpanzee male-male pairs engaged in more pre-feeding reassurance than other-sex pairings, aligning with species-specific predictions. However, these trends were only clear for socially tolerant groups. Likewise, vulnerable chimpanzee-specific kissing behaviours were more prevalent in a tolerant group. Our results reveal that reassuring contact may function as a flexible, short-term mechanism to mitigate contest competition and promote group-level tolerance. By identifying a proximate behavioural tool for managing competition in our closest cousins, our findings demonstrate the important role that friendly social behaviours play in negotiating the trade-off between competition and cooperation, as is essential to our own species' survival. (© 2026 The Authors.) |
| Grant Information: | United States TWCF TWCF |
| Contributed Indexing: | Keywords: Pan; bonobos; chimpanzees; reassurance; social tolerance |
| Entry Date(s): | Date Created: 20260721 Date Completed: 20260721 Latest Revision: 20260923 |
| Update Code: | 20260924 |
| DOI: | 10.1098/rspb.2025.3190 |
| PMID: | 42481049 |
| Βάση Δεδομένων: | MEDLINE |
| ISSN: | 1471-2954 |
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| DOI: | 10.1098/rspb.2025.3190 |