Warlike chimpanzees and peacemaking bonobos

Pusey, Anne E.

doi:10.1073/pnas.2208865119

Cited by 9 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Chimpanzees and bonobos, for instance, are intolerant towards neighbours, and interactions tend to be aggressive (Glowacki, 2022 ; Pisor & Surbeck, 2019 ; Wrangham & Glowacki, 2012 ). While some observations of the latter species suggests that scope for inter-group cooperation may be phylogenetically deep in our evolutionary lineage (Lucchesi et al, 2021 ; Pusey, 2022 ), the scale, duration and diversity of cooperation between human groups is unprecedented. For humans, seeking out and maintaining inter-group cooperation was critical for the evolution of culture, and probably played an important role in human migration and cultural adaptation across time (Boyette et al, 2022 ; Fuentes, 2004 ; Miller & Wang, 2022 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dyadic inter-group cooperation in shotgun hunting activities in a Congo Basin village

Kandza,

Jang,

Kiabiya Ntamboudila

et al. 2024

Evolut. Hum. Sci.

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Understanding the dynamics of inter-group cooperation in human adaptation has been the subject of recent empirical and theoretical studies in evolutionary anthropology, beginning to fill gaps in our knowledge of how interactions across political, economic and social domains can – and often do – lead to stable, large-scale cooperation. Here we investigate dyadic intergroup cooperation in shotgun hunting in the Republic of the Congo. In the Congo Basin, inter-group cooperation between foragers and farmers is at the centre of an exchange system maintained by traditional norms and institutions such as fictive kinship. Here, we focused on what factors predict cooperative shotgun hunting exchanges between BaYaka and Yambe. We conducted structured interviews with 48 BaYaka hunters and 18 Yambe men who organise hunts in a village along the Motaba River. We used Bayesian multilevel regression models to investigate the influence of Yambe and BaYaka attributes on probability of dyadic cooperation. We found that BaYaka men's reputations as skilled hunters and their family size each predicted cooperation in shotgun hunting, whereas there was no effect of Yambe attributes (status, wealth, family size). We discuss the results in terms of evolutionary models of men as hunters and inter-group cooperation, as well as biodiversity conservation implications.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dyadic inter-group cooperation in shotgun hunting activities in a Congo Basin village

Kandza,

Jang,

Kiabiya Ntamboudila

et al. 2024

Evolut. Hum. Sci.

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“…Primates tend to defend their home ranges as territories only when it is economical to do so (Mitani & Rodman, 1979). Bonobos may have more peaceful intergroup interactions than chimpanzees because their home ranges are not economically defendable (Pusey, 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The evolution of peace

Glowacki¹

2022

Behav Brain Sci

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While some species have affiliative and even cooperative interactions between individuals of different social groups, humans are alone in having durable, positive-sum, interdependent relationships across unrelated social groups. Our capacity to have harmonious relationships that cross group boundaries is an important aspect of our species’ success, allowing for the exchange of ideas, materials, and ultimately enabling cumulative cultural evolution. Knowledge about the conditions required for peaceful intergroup relationships is critical for understanding the success of our species and building a more peaceful world. How do humans create harmonious relationships across group boundaries and when did this capacity emerge in the human lineage? Answering these questions involves considering the costs and benefits of intergroup cooperation and aggression, for oneself, one's group, and one's neighbor. Taking a game theoretical perspective provides new insights into the difficulties of removing the threat of war and reveals an ironic logic to peace—the factors that enable peace also facilitate the increased scale and destructiveness of conflict. In what follows, I explore the conditions required for peace, why they are so difficult to achieve, and when we expect peace to have emerged in the human lineage. I argue that intergroup cooperation was an important component of human relationships and a selective force in our species history in the past 300 thousand years. But the preconditions for peace only emerged in the past 100 thousand years and likely coexisted with intermittent intergroup violence which would have also been an important and selective force in our species’ history.

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