Write an article about How great apes are champions of empathy .Organize the content with appropriate headings and subheadings (h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6), Retain any existing tags from Researchers have found that bonobos and chimpanzees console each other at similar rates. (Envato Elements pic)
PARIS: Bonobos are often seen as gentle pacifists who defuse tensions through sex, while chimpanzees have a reputation for being angry and belligerent.
But is this perception justified?
To find out, researchers from Durham University spent 1,400 hours observing the behaviour of 90 primates living in sanctuaries: 40 bonobos from the Lola ya Bonobo refuge in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and 50 chimpanzees from the Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphanage in Zambia.
Their aim was to analyse the reactions of these animals when confronted with situations of natural stress, particularly during conflicts.
The researchers found that bonobos and chimpanzees console each other at similar rates.
“For a long time, bonobos have been thought of as the more empathic ape, whilst chimpanzees are typically spoken about as the violent, despotic ape.
“However, we found that chimpanzees are just as likely to console one another as bonobos,” explained Dr Jake Brooker, who led the study. Age plays a crucial role in the empathy of these great apes. In both bonobos and chimpanzees, the youngest are the first to offer comfort to their peers.
Young bonobos are both more likely to comfort and to be comforted, whereas in chimpanzees, this role is mainly taken on by young males and close social partners.
These empathic behaviours are expressed through simple but evocative gestures, such as embracing, hand grasping and touching… behaviours reminiscent of humankind’s own.
“Just like humans, bonobos and chimpanzees may flexibly show empathy depending on the individual, the group, and the surrounding social culture,” said Dr Jake Brooker.
Senior author of the study, Professor Zanna Clay of Durham University’s Department of Psychology, added: “Although empathy is very important for our own species, our findings show that empathic behaviours, like consolation, appear to be a common trait we also share with our two closest ape relatives. Finding these overlaps between our two close cousins suggests our last common ancestor likely showed these empathic capacities too.”
On the strength of these observations, the researchers now wish to extend their research to other groups of primates and to more varied environments, particularly in the wild.
Their study shows that humans’ link with the great apes is not limited to genetics, but is also rooted in shared emotions that have shaped the evolution of humans’ social skills. In bonobos as in chimpanzees, compassion is not a theoretical idea, it’s a tangible reality.
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