Liza R Moscovice*, Martin Surbeck*, Barbara Fruth, Gottfried Hohmann, Adrian V Jaeggi, and Tobias Deschner. 11/1/2019. “
The cooperative sex: Sexual interactions among female bonobos are linked to increases in oxytocin, proximity and coalitions.” Hormones and Behavior, 116, Pp. 104581.
Publisher's VersionAbstractIn some species habitual same-sex sexual behavior co-occurs with high levels of intra-sexual alliance formation, suggesting that these behaviors may be linked. We tested for such a link by comparing behavioral and physiological outcomes of sex with unrelated same- and opposite-sex partners in female bonobos (Pan paniscus). We analyzed behavioral outcomes following 971 sexual events involving n = 19 female and n = 8 male adult and sub-adult members of a wild, habituated bonobo community. We additionally collected n = 143 urine samples before and after sexual interactions to non-invasively measure oxytocin (OT), which modulates female sexual behavior and facilitates cooperation in other species. The majority of sexual events (65%) consisted of female same-sex genito-genital rubbing (or GG-rubbing). Female dyads engaged in significantly more sexual interactions than did inter-sexual dyads …
Anne C Pisor and Martin Surbeck. 7/2019. “
The evolution of intergroup tolerance in nonhuman primates and humans.” Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews, 28, 4, Pp. 210-223.
Publisher's Version Martin Surbeck, Christophe Boesch, Catherine Crockford, Melissa EmeryThompson, Takeshi Furuichi, Barbara Fruth, Gottfried Hohmann, Shintaro Ishizuka, Zarin Machanda, Martin N Muller, Anne Pusey, Tetsuya Sakamaki, NahokoTokuyama, Kara Walker, Richard Wrangham, Emily Wroblewski, Klaus Zuberbühler, Linda Vigilant, and Kevin Langergraber. 5/20/2019. “
Males with a mother living in their group have higher paternity success in bonobos but not chimpanzees.” Current Biology, 29, 10, Pp. R354-R355.
Publisher's Version Hohmann Gottfried, Linda Vigilant, Roger Mundry, Verena Behringer, and Martin Surbeck. 5/2019. “
Aggression by male bonobos against immature individuals does not fit with predictions of infanticide.” Aggressive behavior, 45, 3, Pp. 300-309.
Publisher's Version Ammie K. Kalan, Gottfried Hohmann, Mimi Arandjelovic, Christophe Boesch, Maureen S. McCarthy, Anthony Agbor, Samuel Angedakin, Emma Bailey, Cosma Wilungula Balongelwa, Mattia Bessone, Gaëlle Bocksberger, Sally Jewel Coxe, Tobias Deschner, Marie-Lyne Després-Einspenner, Paula Dieguez, Barbara Fruth, Ilka Herbinger, Anne-Céline Granjon, Josephine Head, Yves Aka Kablan, Kevin E. Langergraber, Albert Lotana Lokasola, Giovanna Maretti, Sergio Marrocoli, Menard Mbende, Jennifer Moustgaard, Paul Kouame N’Goran, Martha M. Robbins, Joost van Schijndel, Volker Sommer, Martin Surbeck, Nikki Tagg, Jacob Willie, Roman M. Wittig, and Hjalmar S. Kühl. 2019. “
Novelty Response of Wild African Apes to Camera Traps.” Current Biology, 29, 7, Pp. 1211 - 1217.e3.
Publisher's VersionAbstractSummary Temperament and personality research in humans and nonhuman animals measures behavioral variation in individual, population, or species-specific traits with implications for survival and fitness, such as social status, foraging, and mating success [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. Curiosity and risk-taking tendencies have been studied extensively across taxa by measuring boldness and exploration responses to experimental novelty exposure [3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15]. Here, we conduct a natural field experiment using wildlife monitoring technology to test variation in the reaction of wild great apes (43 groups of naive chimpanzees, bonobos, and western gorillas across 14 field sites in Africa) to a novel object, the camera trap. Bonobo and gorilla groups demonstrated a stronger looking impulse toward the camera trap device compared to chimpanzees, suggesting higher visual attention and curiosity. Bonobos were also more likely to show alarm and other fearful behaviors, although such neophobic (and conversely, neophilic) responses were generally rare. Among all three species, individuals looked at cameras longer when they were young, were associating with fewer individuals, and did not live near a long-term research site. Overall, these findings partially validate results from great ape novelty paradigms in captivity [7, 8]. We further suggest that species-typical leadership styles [16] and social and environmental effects, including familiarity with humans, best explain novelty responses of wild great apes. In sum, this study illustrates the feasibility of large-scale field experiments and the importance of both intrinsic and extrinsic factors in shaping animal curiosity. Video Abstract