SSS 2012-03-08

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In any community, conflicts inevitably⁴ arise. That’s why we humans have law enforcement agencies, the military and impartial⁵ arbitrators like Jerry Springer. But how does our closest kin³ in the animal kingdom handle social unrest?

 

A team of anthropologists spent nearly 600 hours observing the social interactions of chimps⁶ at a Swiss zoo. And they saw the alpha male or his beta sidekick break up 69 different scuffles by running into the fray⁷ or getting up in the face of the warring parties, which were sometimes males but often females.

 

This kind of peacekeeping is not peculiar⁸ to Swiss apes. Chimps in an English zoo, and even in the wild, exhibit similar policing. And in some cases it’s a female that’s the top cop.

 

Such social intercession may have evolved to help stabilize⁹ the community, which ultimately benefits all its members. Including Chimpsky and Hutch.

 

Thanks for the minute for Scientific American, I'm Karen Hopkin

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