Bonobos are more interested in the emotions of strangers than acquaintances

About the episode

Bonobos, along with chimpanzees, are closest to us humans. We are quite similar, also in terms of social behavior. Yet there are also a number of notable differences, according to new research.

In experiments, researcher Evy Van Berlo found that bonobos and humans are more interested in photos of conspecifics showing emotions than in neutral photos. But while our attention is primarily drawn to pictures of people we know, among bonobos attention is more quickly drawn to the emotion of strangers.

For research, Van Berlo trained bonobos in Apenheul to press a dot on a screen. After touching the dot, two images appeared very briefly. Bonobos from the same group and “strange” congeners. Some images were neutral, others showed emotions.

A dot appeared behind one of these two images, which the monkeys had to touch as quickly as possible. The idea behind this study was that monkeys are quicker to hit the dot that appears behind the photo that immediately grabs attention. A variant of this study was also carried out with human visitors to Apenheul.

The study showed that bonobos are more likely to pay attention to the emotion of strangers, which is consistent with previous studies showing that bonobos are more attracted to strangers than known people. It probably has something to do with having enough food and being nice to strangers. People often had to compete much more for food, and then it would probably be more evolutionarily advantageous to favor individuals in your own group.

Read more: Bonobos, unlike humans, are more interested in the emotions of strangers than in their knowledge.