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Common chimpanzees are very social animals, with males forming the closest bonds. Males stay in their mother's troop all their lives and build up strong relationships with other males from the group. |
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This results in the formation of dominance hierarchies, with dominant males attempting to stop others from having access to females. Females though are less social than males and usually only form strong bonds with their infants, leaving the maternal troop when they reach adolescence to join a neighbouring group. This situation is completely different from their close relatives, bonobos. Communication is vital in maintaining harmonious chimpanzee society and violence is avoided wherever possible. They are able to convey their feelings to one another using a combination of sounds, body language and facial expressions. Effective communication also enables chimpanzees to co-ordinate group events such as hunting and wars on neighbouring chimp troops. |
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Whilst chimpanzee females leave their mother's group and move on, the opposite is true of another social mammal. |
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