Chimp & See Talk

Negative chimp socializing

  • Snorticus by Snorticus

    Do chimps ever repeatedly work to undermine other chimps? In other words, do chimps "behave badly" toward other chimps for no discernable reason like dominance, food competition, sex competition etc. Is this trait just found in humans?

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  • LirSam by LirSam scientist

    i have seen juvenile males constantly harassing the lowest ranking adult female in the group, just because they can. their more dominant mothers were around, ready to intervene should the lower ranking female retaliates (she never did)...

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  • maureenmccarthy by maureenmccarthy scientist, moderator

    In my prior experience working with captive chimpanzees, they can definitely behave very similarly to humans by picking fights with others, having some chimpanzees (and humans) they prefer more over others, etc. I can't say this always had a "good reason" behind it... so in that sense I would say they are pretty similar to humans. It's a different context of course, but in terms of chimpanzees' capacity for that sort of behavior, I would say it's there. 😃

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