In the depths of the Congolese jungle, a unique primates group rewrites the rules of wild coexistence. HE It is about the Bonobos, the nearby family members, whose social behavior scientists have been surprised for decades.
In a world where the most common is that the male dominates the rest of the group through the use of brutal power, Bonobo women show that Union can be stronger than muscles.
For more than thirty years, researchers have closely followed the lives of these primates in the only corner of the planet where they still live free: The river basin of Congo. What they have discovered has silent revolution dyes.
Bonobo’s matriarchy
Although The men of Bonobo are stronger and more than women, they mark some of the great decisions of the group. That is why it is those who decide when and with whom they should mate and those who control the important sources -as fresh dams -and while they eat, they in turn wait.
Organic, The relationship between women and bonobos males is at least unique and contrasts with the rest of the animal worldWhere power is determined by size or strength.
Until now, nobody knew why women of Bonobo They enjoy so much strength and freedom about men, but now, A study conducted with wild bonobos has discovered that the secret is in female solidarity.
The details of the study, led by Barbara Fruth, of the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, and Martin Surbeck, from Harvard University, will be published on Thursday in the Journal Communications Biology and offer the first empirical testAnd explain how the women of Bonobo retain their share to form alliances with other women.
The researchers discovered that The females surpassed the males that form tires or ‘coalitions’ in which the vast majority (85% of the observed) Sometimes they attacked men, forced them to submit and configure the dominance hierarchy of the group.
«Let us know, this is The first proof that female solidarity can invest the typical male power structure of many mammalian associations«, Says Surbeck, first author of the study.
Collection of 30 years of studies
To do the study, The authors collected 30 years of data from six wild bonobos communities in three places in the Democratic Republic of CongoOnly land where they live bonobos In freedom, and collected observations of 1,786 conflicts between men and women, they won 1,099 by them.
When analyzing and completing social and demographic data They discovered some indications about what the ‘female power’ determines.
The result of coalition formation was a surprise. That turned out Adult females are not -related immigrants from different communities that did not grew up together, What makes his deep tires and cooperation even more unexpected.
In addition, Surbeck adds that the research station of bonobos From Kokolori: “It is not common to see these types of coalitions in nature.” But When they form, they make an impression. The first signal is so unbearably high screams that ‘you have to cover your ears’ ”According to Fruth.
Although scientists do not know what a coalition causes, because a few seconds of an event are formed within a few seconds –Such as when a man tries to hurt a breeding females, scream, follow the male through trees and sometimes attack him that causes deadly injuries.
“It’s a fierce way to confirm power,” adds Fruth. «You understand why these men are not trying to exceed the boundaries«.
The status of women is considerably high
The study, however That compared six Bonobo’s communities, noted that although women won 61% of the conflicts and 70% of the average men exceededThis domain ‘was not at all the rule’.
On the contrary, the female domain varied in populations in a spectrum: «It is more accurate to say that Bonobos -Joms, Women enjoy a high status that an indisputable domain«, Says Fruth. According to the authors, female coalitions are just one of the mechanisms that probably stimulate women’s empowerment Bonobos, But new research is needed to determine them.
Yet it is possible that many questions are left unanswered: «I am still intriguing why, of all animals, bonobos They were those who formed female alliances. We may never know, but it’s a spark of hope The females of our close living family members, in our evolutionary line, will be ally to take the reins of power with the men«, Fruth concludes. EFE / ECOTICIA.COM