The female bonobos find strength in the numbers, which come together to defend against men in nature, according to a new study.
Together with the chimpanzees, the bonobos are among the closest relatives of humans. Scientists have long wondered why bonobos live in societies generally dominated by women, since males are physically larger and more stronger.
Three decades of observations in the Congo, the only place that bonobos in danger of extinction are found in nature, provide support to the idea of a brotherhood where female bonobos come together to affirm their power.
These groups of girls expelled the male bonobos of the trees, ensuring food for themselves, and the women who grouped more were classified higher on the social scale of their community, the researchers found.
“It’s very clear that you don’t want to exceed a masculine Bonobo,” said study author Martin Surbeck from Harvard University.
The results were published Thursday in the journal Communications Biology.
The female bonobos numbers seem to change the course against the physical force of a man, Surbeck said. It is one of the times that such strategy has allowed females to come out at the top of the animal kingdom. Spotted hyenas find the power in groups similar.
The female bonobos were linked even when they had no close links, relying each other against men and consolidating their social position. The observations show how female bonobos work together to protect themselves from male violence, said biological anthropologist Laura Lewis with the University of California, Berkeley.
The findings support “the idea that humans and our ancestors have probably used coalitions to build and maintain power for millions of years,” said Lewis, who did not participate in the investigation, in an email.
