When baby bonobos are born, their older siblings are not always happy. Here's why—and what it means, by MarcBekoff
Bonobos, formerly called pygmy chimpanzees, display a wide array of unique behavior patterns including female-run social groups, frontal, and sex for fun and pleasure. Females also give birth to children when there are older siblings still dependent on care from them. This sets up a situation for researchers to learn if older siblings are affected by the presence of younger ones.
Behringer and her colleagues write,"Our data from wild bonobos demonstrate that sibling birth induces a physiological stress response in the older offspring that is independent of the older offspring’s age." They also"that the overall change in their environment, such as less attention by the mother, change in their social environment and other new situations, may be responsible for the increased stress levels.
It's not known if high stress had any long-term effect on older sibs but levels of neopterin suddenly decreased when new bonobos were born. Some studies of chimpanzees and baboons showed that older sibs had reduced growth and shorter lifespans when younger siblings were around, perhaps because they were stressed.
How the information from this unique study of bonobos relates to what happens in humans isn't clear because many young humans benefit from care from individuals other than mom. However, not only are the data themselves important, but they also show why it's essential to study wild animals to complement what is observed in captivity where individuals, including moms and their kids, may be subjected to a wide variety of unnatural situations and manipulations.
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