Elsevier

Animal Behaviour

Volume 60, Issue 1, July 2000, Pages 107-120
Animal Behaviour

Regular Article
Use and function of genital contacts among female bonobos

https://doi.org/10.1006/anbe.2000.1451Get rights and content

Abstract

Female bonobos, Pan paniscus, show a mounting behaviour that differs physically from that in other primate species. They embrace each other ventroventrally and rub their genital swellings against each other. We investigated five hypotheses on the function of ventroventral mounting (genital contacts) that derive from previous studies of both primate and nonprimate species: (1) reconciliation; (2) mate attraction; (3) tension regulation; (4) expression of social status; and (5) social bonding. We collected data in six field seasons (1993–1998) from members of a habituated, unprovisioned community of wild bonobos at Lomako, Democratic Republic of Congo. No single hypothesis could account for the use of genital contacts, which appeared to be multifunctional. We found support for hypotheses 1 and 3. Rates of postconflict genital contacts exceeded preconflict rates suggesting that the display is used in the context of reconciliation. Rates of genital contacts were high when food could be monopolized and tension was high. However, genital contacts also occurred independently of agonistic encounters. Our study shows rank-related asymmetries in initiation and performance of genital contacts supporting the social status hypothesis: low-ranking females solicited genital contacts more often than high-ranking females while the latter were more often mounter than mountee. Although subordinates took more initiative to achieve genital contact, dominants mostly responded to the solicitation (ventral presentation) with mounting, indicating that the performance benefits both individuals. We suggest that genital contacts can be used to investigate both quality and dynamics of dyadic social relationships among female bonobos.

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      While in chimpanzees, males obtain their ranks mainly by means of physical aggression, males in bonobos obtain dominance ranks through amicable bonds with females and through close mother-son relationships (Surbeck et al., 2017). Bonobos are also playful, even in adulthood (Palagi and Paoli, 2007), and exhibit frequent sexual behaviors, also with same-sex partners, which are decoupled from reproduction (Hohmann and Fruth, 2000). The highly frequent socio-sexual contacts in bonobos promote social tolerance and cooperation (Moscovice et al., 2019), reconcile former opponents after conflicts, regulate competition and promote food sharing (see for a review Gruber and Clay, 2016).

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      To explore the effect of mate competition, we scored genital swellings of females that were present in the followed party at any point during the day. We scored swelling stages on a scale of 1 (minimal tumescence) to 4 (maximal tumescence), based on the firmness and skin surface structure of the swelling (Hohmann and Fruth, 2000). We then used the presence of (in- and out-group) maximally tumescent females on a given day to quantify potential mate competition.

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    f1

    Correspondence: G. Hohmann, Max Planck Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology, Inselstr. 22, 04103 Leipzig, Germany (email:[email protected]).

    f2

    B. Fruth is now also at this address.

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