What We Can Learn About Ourselves from Chimpanzees and Bonobos
We carry both within us
Genetically, chimpanzees and bonobos are our closest relatives. While they are very similar in appearance, they are fundamentally different in their social behavior. Bonobos live by the motto “Make love, not war,” while chimpanzees live by the motto “Make war, not love.”
In the following, I will shed light on the difference between the two species and explain what we can learn about ourselves from this.
Biologically, we belong to the great ape family, which also includes orangutans, gorillas, bonobos, and chimps. According to current scientific opinion, the orangutan developed from a primitive ape around 14 million years ago, the gorilla around 10 million years ago, humans around 6 million years ago, and the bonobo and chimpanzee around 2.5 million years ago. The following diagram shows the family tree as described in the book “Demonic Males” by Wrangham and Peterson.
Humans differ from all other apes – and animals – in that we have a mind. I explain this in my article “This Is the Difference Between Humans and Animals.” The following considerations only deal with the biological aspects. They do not explain how we came to have our mental tool, the mind.
We have a 96.9% genetic match with orangutans, 98.4% with gorillas, and 98.7% each with bonobos and chimps. The latter are, therefore, our closest biological relatives. Humans, bonobos, and chimps have a common ancestor. As they developed after us, we carry the potential of both within us, so to speak.
Bonobos and chimps have a genetic match of 99.6%, which explains the similarity in appearance. Both bonobos and chimps live in clans, which usually comprise around 50 apes and, in exceptional cases, can have up to 200 members. But that is where the social similarity ends. If you show a chimp a picture of a chimp from a different clan, or play the voice of such a chimp, it will show physiological symptoms of negative stress. A chimpanzee feels threatened by an unfamiliar chimp. If you show a bonobo a picture of a bonobo from a different clan, or play it the voice of such a bonobo, it has physiological symptoms of positive stress; it is pleased. Chimps are xenophobic, bonobos are xenophilic.
The following experiment speaks volumes. I took it from the book “Bonobo Handshake” by Vanessa Woods. A cage is divided into two halves by a grid. There is a door in the grid that can only be opened from one side. A chimp sits in each half, the door is closed. The chimp that could open the door receives food. It eats without opening the door. If you carry out this experiment with two bonobos, the bonobo that receives food will open the door to let the other bonobo in; they then share the food.
Chimpanzees are one of the most brutal animal species. They murder and rape. Groups of chimps invade the territories of neighboring clans, attacking and killing smaller groups or individuals. A chimp clan tries to weaken the neighboring clans. It is a case of “kill or be killed.”
Sex in chimps is rape or prostitution. For example, a female offers herself to a male who has food in order to receive food after sex. Sometimes a female offers herself to a male as a permanent sex partner. In return, he protects her from being raped by other males, so this is also a case of prostitution.
Bonobos are peaceful. Sex plays a central role in their social life. It serves to reduce tension and forge alliances.
Chimps are patriarchal and strictly hierarchically organized. Bonobos are matriarchal and organized cooperatively in a flat hierarchy.
Does that ring a bell? Our human society is a chimp society, only more brutal. The documentary “Rise of the Warrior Apes” shows how chimp males live for dominance and status, how they forge alliances, conduct politics, and wage wars.
We have used our creativity to be even more cruel. We have invented killing tools, torture, enslavement, and child abuse. Chimps cannot act differently because of their xenophobic nature. We humans could act differently because acting differently is our nature.
Because we mistrust each other, we behave in a xenophobic way – and so inevitably end up with the chimp way of life. But many of us long for a life similar to that of the bonobos. We long to be able to trust others.
A chimp society works because it is natural and, therefore, truthful. A human chimp society does not work because the hierarchy is enforced and, therefore, untruthful. It is enforced because it is based on enslavement.
A scene from the documentary “Rise of the Warrior Apes” illustrates this. Numbers 2 and 3 in the hierarchy of male chimps are friends; they groom each other and share their food. One day, number 3 challenges number 2 to a hierarchy fight – and wins. With this, the two have swapped places in the hierarchy. After the fight, they were friends again: they continued to groom each other and share their food. Such behavior would be unthinkable in humans. I describe the difference between animal and human power struggles in my article “There is Only One True Freedom.”
A human chimp society is doomed because enslaved humans become aggressive and this destroys society from within. See my articles “Who Can You Trust?” and “Why Is There So Much Aggression?”.
A bonobo society is, in many ways, a model for our future as humankind. The “free love” practiced by bonobos does not work for humans – at least not in the foreseeable future. I explain this in my article “Is Monogamy Natural for Us?”. The other aspects of a bonobo society should be transferred, especially the flat hierarchy and cooperation. I analyze why truthful cooperation is central to our future in my article “To Survive as a Species, We MUST Work Together.”
Further reading:
Book “Demonic Males”, R Wrangham, D Peterson, Bloomsbury, London, 1997
Article “This Is the Difference Between Humans and Animals”
Book “Bonobo Handshake”, Vanessa Woods, Gotham Books, New York, 2010
Film “Rise of the Warrior Apes”, James Reed, 2017
Article “Why Is There So Much Aggression?”
Article “Who Can You Trust?”
Article “Why Is There So Much Aggression?”
Article “Is Monogamy Natural for Us?”
Article “To Survive as a Species, We MUST Work Together”
Very interesting essay 🤔🤔🤔
Talk about gettin yrself in a twist, all superiority & assumptions about the person you 're addressing, off da mark by miles, I started out by remarking that that casual assumption that people are the only creatures with a mind is a selfindulgent misconception, by now you talk as if your mind is all there is, just sad, so chimps prefer conflict over love ya said ... Peace out then ...