Discussion»Questions»Animals (Wild)» Bonobos live in the Congo. They are unlike other apes. The females run the show. They don't kill one another. Ever hear of them?
Bonobos live in the Congo. They are unlike other apes. The females run the show. They don't kill one another. Ever hear of them?
Bonobos have brains 1/3 the size of humans. Yet their society is one in whicih they do not turn on one another and try to destroy one another. How can humans become more apelike? Less warmongerish? Less deadly?
Wrong. They have sex with each other all over the place. Sex is just part of interacting with each other. They don't partner at all. Just sex. The only possible exception is mothers with adult sons. The mothers have 100% responsibility for the young since the men don't know who belongs to them. That is no surprise.
This post was edited by Thriftymaid at October 11, 2016 3:33 PM MDT
"Because of the promiscuous mating behavior of female bonobos, a male cannot be sure which offspring are his. As a result, the entirety of parental care in bonobos is assumed by the mothers."
"Bonobos do not form permanent monogamous sexual relationships with individual partners. They also do not seem to discriminate in their sexual behavior by sex or age, with the possible exception of abstaining from sexual activity between mothers and their adult sons."
I believe sexual repression can sometimes be one of the causes of aggression, irritability, and depression, though I have no idea for how many people this might be true. Have not read any recent studies on it. Margaret Mead was debunked. It seems Bonobos use sex to destress and help maintain peace within the group: they are the most co-operative and least aggressive of all apes. (Same with dolphins - see John Lily's study.) Presumably, they do not suffer from STD's and have no problems concerning contraception and population control. It would be interesting to know how they avoid accidental incest and subsequent compromise of immune systems.
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