From Angus Gemmell, Bonobo Conservation Initiative Australia
You report on a study that says “peaceful” male bonobos may be more aggressive than male chimps. On behalf of the Australian branch of the organisation that has been the long-term sponsor of the Congolese trackers who follow, monitor and protect the bonobos referred to in the article, and having tracked and filmed these bonobos in 2007/2008, I feel more depth is needed.
We need to distinguish between the mere volume of so-called aggressive incidents and their severity. By conflating various lower-grade niggles, such as “pulling” and “kicking”, with more brutal violence, the reader is left uninformed on the vast difference in intensity of aggression between chimp males and bonobo males.
Unlike chimp males, bonobo males have never been seen to commit infanticide, wage deadly in-group violence, hunt monkeys for meat or mount coordinated fatal raids against neighbouring groups.
