SOCIAL BEHAVIOR



The common chimpanzee has a fission-fusion society, and the groups at any one time could be of the following types: all-male, adult females and offspring, bisexual, one female and her offspring, and single individual. This species has a promiscuous mating system. These communities have ranges that overlap with other groups (Estes, 1991). The core of the society are the males, who roam around and protect members of the group as well as hunt (Estes, 1991). There is generally a dominance hierarchy amongst the males. Males are philopatric while females are the ones who will disperse (Estes, 1991). Females in the group that are not related will not show much interaction (Nishida, 1979). Males will start to associate with adult males more as they become older, and they will be integrated into the hierarchy by adulthood (Nishida and Hiraiwa-Hasegawa, 1987). Infanticide has been reported for this species, and it happens when an adult male kills the infant of an unfamiliar female (Goodall, 1977; Kawanaka, 1981). Male-male associations are the strongest in the group, with grooming and food sharing occurring between males (Nishida and Hiraiwa-Hasegawa, 1987). Within the male hierarchy, alpha status is often gained through forming coalitions with a brother or an older non-relative (Nishida and Hiraiwa-Hasegawa, 1987).

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