A lot of human society requires what’s called a “theory of mind”—the ability to infer the mental state of another person and adjust our actions based on what we expect they know and are thinking. We ...

We don't just have sex to reproduce—new research suggests that using sex to manage social tension could be a trait that existed in the common ancestor of humans and apes six million years ago. Humans ...

Bonobos are well known for their peaceable relations within family groups, but there’s less scientific consensus about how much tolerance they extend to individuals outside of their core groups. A ...

You don’t walk up to a coworker without some sort of greeting, and you don’t end conversations simply by turning heel. There are rules to the game of social behavior, and now a research team studying ...

Psychologists from Durham University, UK, have observed the behavior of 90 sanctuary-living apes to establish whether bonobos were more likely than chimpanzees to comfort others in distress. The study ...

Chimpanzees and bonobos are often thought to reflect two different sides of human nature—the conflict-ready chimpanzee versus the peaceful bonobo—but a new study publishing April 12 in the journal ...

Within-group cooperation (i.e., among closely related individuals), is to varying degrees observed among a significant number of animal species. However, peaceful encounters and cooperation between ...

If you’ve heard the common phrase, “Bonobos make love, not war,” you might wonder about the context behind this statement. Essentially, bonobos use sexual activity as a form of conflict resolution.

A new study of our two closest living relatives finds that, at least in zoos, bonobos may not be more peaceful than chimpanzees. Bonobos (Pan paniscus) are only found south of the Congo River in the ...

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