Female Bonobos Form Alliances to Outshine Males in Dominance, New Study Reveals

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Bonobos, our closest living relatives, inhabit unique social structures where females, despite being smaller, dominate males. Researchers reveal insights based on extensive observations.

Sara Hashemi – Daily Correspondent

April 29, 2025 1:11 p.m.

In the lush habitats of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, bonobos exhibit behaviors that confound expectations. These large, vocal males display aggression, yet they live in societies largely governed by females. A recent study sheds light on this phenomenon: it turns out that female bonobos leverage their social bonds to assert dominance over their male counterparts.

A comprehensive analysis of six wild bonobo groups over 30 years, from 1993 to 2021, revealed that female bonobos form collaborative alliances, effectively increasing their influence within the groups. This groundbreaking research was documented in the journal Communications Biology on April 24.

“Our findings reaffirm the age-old wisdom that collaboration enhances success and power,” remarked lead researcher Martin Surbeck, a behavioral ecologist at Harvard University, in an interview with Jason Bittel from National Geographic.

Female-centric hierarchical systems are uncommon among mammals, particularly those featuring larger males. However, female bonobos exercise significant control over mating choices and food access, prompting scientists to investigate the dynamics of conflicts that favor females.

The researchers discovered that female bonobos typically form coalitions of three to five individuals. In 85% of instances where these groups confronted males, their collective aggression led to 61% of those encounters ending in success for the females.

“You can achieve conflict resolution through strength, alliances, or by possessing something desirable that can’t be taken forcefully,” Surbeck elaborated in a statement. For bonobos, forming teams appears to be the chosen tactic.

When females target a male exhibiting inappropriate behavior, such as threatening a younger bonobo, they may pursue him through the trees, vocalizing loudly. Their coordinated efforts can result in severe injuries to the males.

These aggressive displays can become intense, with Surbeck noting to Dino Grandoni from the Washington Post, that witnessing such events reinforces boundaries among male bonobos.

This coalition-building, the research team posits, elevates female bonobos’ societal standing, with the average female outranking approximately 70% of the males in her community. However, variations among populations suggest that female dominance may face challenges depending on the group dynamics.

As bonobos share a close genetic link with humans, the implications extend beyond their species. “These findings bolster the notion that humans and our ancestors have likely leveraged alliances to cultivate power over millennia,” stated Laura Simone Lewis, a biological anthropologist from the University of California, Berkeley, who was not a part of the study, to National Geographic.

Lewis further asserted that this study could provide critical insights into how women can cultivate protective measures against male aggression by fostering alliances, reminiscent of strategies observed in bonobo communities.

Christopher Krupenye, a professor at Johns Hopkins University specializing in primate cognition, highlighted the value of the study’s extensive data collection but noted that more research is needed to clarify whether the coalitions beget power or arise from existing female strength.

“Considering similar studies in chimpanzees and other primates, it seems likely that forming coalitions has been a critical strategy for maintaining power throughout our evolutionary history,” Krupenye noted.

The study challenges the notion that male dominance is a fixed outcome, suggesting that great apes can exhibit flexibility in their social structures.

To deepen understanding of bonobos—and by extension, human social dynamics—the researchers emphasized the necessity of their conservation. Presently, their natural habitat is restricted to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

“Bonobos are an endangered species,” Surbeck explained to The New York Times. “They serve as a vital connection to our evolutionary history. Losing them would mean losing an invaluable reflection of humanity.”

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