Article
Lethal aggression in Pan is better explained by adaptive strategies than human impacts
Nature
Document Type
Article
Disciplines
Publication Version
Accepted Manuscript
Publication Date
9-1-2014
DOI
10.1038/nature13727
Abstract
Observations of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and bonobos (Pan paniscus) provide valuable comparative data for understanding the significance of conspecific killing. Two kinds of hypothesis have been proposed. Lethal violence is sometimes concluded to be the result of adaptive strategies, such that killers ultimately gain fitness benefits by increasing their access to resources such as food or mates1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Alternatively, it could be a non-adaptive result of human impacts, such as habitat change or food provisioning6, 7, 8, 9. To discriminate between these hypotheses we compiled information from 18 chimpanzee communities and 4 bonobo communities studied over five decades. Our data include 152 killings (n = 58 observed, 41 inferred, and 53 suspected killings) by chimpanzees in 15 communities and one suspected killing by bonobos. We found that males were the most frequent attackers (92% of participants) and victims (73%); most killings (66%) involved intercommunity attacks; and attackers greatly outnumbered their victims (median 8:1 ratio). Variation in killing rates was unrelated to measures of human impacts. Our results are compatible with previously proposed adaptive explanations for killing by chimpanzees, whereas the human impact hypothesis is not supported.
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Copyright Owner
The Authors
Copyright Date
2014
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Citation Information
Micahel L. Wilson, Christophe Boesch, Barbara Fruth, Takeshi Furuichi, et al.. "Lethal aggression in Pan is better explained by adaptive strategies than human impacts" Nature Vol. 53 Iss. 7518 (2014) p. 414 - 417 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/jill-pruetz/8/
This is a manuscript of an article from Nature 513 (2014): 414, doi:10.1038/nature13727. Posted with permission.