ANTA01 Final Essay! Chimpanzees and Bonobos.

Chimpanzees and Bonobos.

In the path of evolution, we human beings were separated from the other lineages which include chimpanzees and bonobos around 7 million years ago. Thus we can say that the chimpanzees and bonobos are our closest living relatives.  These primates can be used to compare the behaviour of our ancestors since they are closely related to each other. But the modern human beings have much different behavioral characteristics compared to our ancestors. Chimpanzees (Pan Troglodytes) today can be seen in the equatorial Africa, in a broad belt from Lake Tanganyika in the east to the Atlantic Ocean in the west. Chimpanzees are anatomically similar to Gorillas in a number of ways. Bonobos (Pan Paniscus) are only found in one place, the south of Zaire River in the DRC. Bonobos have a strong resemblance to chimpanzees but are quite smaller (Lewis et.al 2011). These primates exhibit considerable diversity in their social systems (Smuts et al. 1987), a fact that is thought to have evolved through the influence of many factors.  Even though we are closely related to chimpanzees and bonobos, the behaviour of human beings are still very different from them. But there behavioral characteristics can be used to study the characteristics of our ancestors.

Chimpanzees are one of our most common living relative. The binomial name for common chimpanzee is Pan Troglodytes. In a number of ways these primates are anatomically very similar to a Gorilla. But the environmental adaptations and characteristics of chimpanzees and gorillas differ. Chimpanzees are comparatively smaller and less sexually dimorphic that orangutans and gorillas (Lewis et.al 2011). These primate’s diets include fruits, leaves, insects, eggs of birds and nuts. They also take part in group hunting occasionally. When their hunting efforts turn out to be successful they share the meat among the hunting group. They live in large communities ranging from 10 to as many as 100 individuals. A group of strong individuals forms the core of these groups. These chimpanzees are highly intolerant of other chimpanzees who are unfamiliar to them (Lewis et.al 2011). Adult females are usually found either alone or with their own mothers and siblings. About 40% of the females remain in the group they were born in (Williams et.al 1999). But males usually leave the group they were born in, reducing the risk of mating with other close relatives. The social behaviour of chimpanzees is complex and individuals form lifelong attachments with friends and relatives (Lewis et.al 2011). Even though this primate is an endangered species, it is still one of the most ecologically successful species living in a wide range of habitat in the equatorial region of the African continent (Stanford 1998). Male dominance can be found among the chimpanzees where the males go for hunting and females usually look after the young ones. Females live in a largely male dominated social environment. According to Wrangham and Peterson (1996:191), ‘‘what most male chimpanzees strive for is being on top, the one position where they will never have to grovel. It is the difficulty of getting there that induces aggression.’’

                                                                         

Bonobos are primates with similar resemblance to chimpanzees but much smaller in size and is also one of the most recent living relative of the human beings. Bonobos also share a common ancestor with the chimpanzees. Bonobos also have longer legs compared to chimpanzees and also a much smaller head. The binomial name for a bonobo is Pan Paniscus. Bonobos are one among the least studied primates. But studies are still going on around them and about them. They are also in the endangered species list. The main threats they have is from the loss of habitat due to deforestation, hunting and also warfare. The diet of bonobo includes meat, fruits, insects, leaves and nuts. Unlike chimpanzees in the bonobo community there is no male domination, but male-female bonding is more important (Lewis 2011). Female bonobos from neighbouring communities emigrate to a group and establish bonds with the females in those groups and stays in that group after and afterwards becomes central in that group (Stanford 1998). The oldest females are the highest rankings in these groups. Male bonobos usually don’t leave the group they are born in. This is not because they are purely territorial like chimpanzees or they don’t have much territorial fights. But we cannot say they are peaceful either, there are disputes inside their communities.

While comparing both Bonobos and Chimpanzees we can see that one of the mainly and widely discussed differences is the female- female relationships and the sexual behavior. One of the main similarities between a bonobo female and a human female is that they are both sexually active outside the periovulatory period unlike chimpanzee (Stanford 1998).

  

One of the other main differences is the relationship between an adult and female in bonobos and chimpanzees. Among chimpanzees the adult males are dominant over the adult females and the chimpanzee community is male dominated. Also the bond between a male and a female is weaker than a male-male bond. But in the bonobo community female bonobos are usually dominant to males and also the relationship bonds are strong (Kano 1992). Another difference is the consumption of meat. Chimpanzees include much amount of meat in their diet. They go on hunting and usually hunt red colobus monkeys for meat. They hunt in a group the split the meat among their group. But among Bonobos the meat consumption is comparatively very less. Also the relationships inside the community they involve can also be noticed. Both chimpanzees and bonobos take part in intergroup relationships. There are usually greet each other with actions and other interactions take place inside the groups. Another point to compare is the mother- son bond. Among bonobos there is a strong mother- son bond. These males stay with their mother throughout their life time (Stanford 1998). This is one of the main social features since this influence the male dominance up to an extent. Sometimes in chimpanzees this strong mother- son relationships loosen the strong male- male relationship to a lower level. Bonobos are less aggressive compared to chimpanzees.

After comparing the characteristics of both chimpanzees and bonobos we can see now find out the behavioral characteristics of our ancestor. When the lineage split between chimpanzees and bonobos, the adaption and the environment around them gave them different characteristics. Chimpanzees went into a more violent, dangerous place, making them more aggressive and territorial. They fought with animals which do not belong to their group. Even if it another chimpanzee and if it do not belong to their group, they would be killed. Since the males were the strong ones and they went usually goes for hunting and to get food, they gradually became the dominant ones. But bonobos went into a more peaceful place where there was not much of violence. So they became peaceful and they mostly ate vegetarian food and rarely ate meat. Making their body much smaller compared to chimpanzees. They didn’t really have fights inside and outside their groups. Thus females became as equally important as the males. Also the oldest female became the dominant one. In the bonobo communities females had a quite big role. Unlike chimpanzee communities, the females on bonobo communities left their group and went to the other groups to reproduce and make bonds with the females in those groups. In bonobo groups the females use sex to diffuse potentially tense situations (Lewis et.al 2011).

Chimpanzees and Bonobos have a wide range of similarities and differences in their behaviors and habits. In this essay we can see that the chimpanzees and bonobos have many differences but both still came from the same ancestor. Humans, chimpanzees and bonobos also come from one the ancestor. Therefore we can study the behavioral characteristics, adaptations, food habits and different features of our ancestors from these primates. These primates show us how our ancestors used to live and what they did to find food and their survival methods. Many of the actions and methods or techniques to survive can be seen in today’s human beings too.  Many of these behavioral characters can be related to the Homo sapiens, but in different situations and settings.

References

Stanford, C.B. 1998. The social behavior of chimpanzees and bonobos. Current Anthropology 39: 399-420

Wrangham, R., McGrew, W., de Waal, F. & Heltne, P. (1994). Chimpanzee Cultures. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Barry Lewis,. Robert Jurmain,. Lynn Kilgore.(2011) Understanding Humans

Smuts, B. B., Cheney, D. L., Seyfarth, R. M., Wrangham, R. W. & Struhsaker, T. T. (1987). Primate Societies. Chicago: University of Chicago Press