Adolescent male chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) form social bonds with their brothers and others during the transition to adulthood.

ABSTRACT: Social relationships play an important role in animal behavior. Bonds with kin provide indirect fitness benefits, and those with nonkin may furnish direct benefits. Adult male chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) exhibit social bonds with maternal brothers as well as unrelated adult males, facilitating cooperative behavior, but it is unclear when these bonds develop. Prior studies suggest that social bonds emerge during adolescence. Alternatively, bonds may develop during adulthood when male chimpanzees can gain fitness benefits through alliances used to compete for dominance status. To investigate these possibilities and to determine who formed bonds, we studied the social relationships of adolescent and young adult male chimpanzees (N = 18) at Ngogo in Kibale National Park, Uganda. Adolescent m

SUBMITTER: Sandel AA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7015449 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature