BIOLOGY NEWS NET
Chema and Rumumba, two low-ranking immigrant female chimpanzees, take turns grooming each other in Gombe National Park, Tanzania
Low-ranking “new girl” chimpanzees seek out other gal pals with similar status, finds a new study of social relationships in the wild apes.
The study is available online and is scheduled to appear in the July 2015 issue of the journal Animal Behaviour.
Unlike most primates, female chimps are loners compared to males. “They spend about half their time alone or with dependent kids,” said Duke University research scientist Steffen Foerster, who co-authored the study.
“Chimpanzee females’ more solitary existence isn’t that surprising given their dispersal patterns,” said Duke evolutionary anthropology professor Anne Pusey. Male chimpanzees stay with the group they were born into their entire lives, forging strong social bonds with other males. Many females, on the other hand, leave their families behind and strike out on their own to join new groups.
Despite their reputation for being aloof, recent studies suggest that some pairs of female chimps hang out together more than others. But whether these females actively seek each other out, or merely cross paths by chance because they haunt the same spots, was unclear.
“If two people live close together they might see each other often at the grocery store, for example,” Pusey said. “But the question is, do they also go and have coffee?”
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