[Animals] The "dumbest" chimpanzees are the most successful in their community

[NesT_YT]

 

The "dumbest" chimpanzees—that is, the most bullying, greedy, and ill-tempered of the group—are the most likely to thrive in their community. A study on the personality of our 'evolutionary cousins' reveals that, paradoxically, animals with the most problematic character are the most successful. But why does nature reward this type of behavior? Shouldn't animals that are best behaved in society prosper more? "We are facing an evolutionary puzzle," explains Joseph T. Feldblum, a researcher at Duke University (United States) and one of the experts who has led this analysis.

The research, published this Monday in the scientific journal 'PeerJ Life and Environment', analyzes almost forty years of data from 28 male chimpanzees from the Gombe National Park (Tanzania). Some of these animals began to be studied in the 1970s by the famous Jane Goodall who, already at that time, observed that animals have very different personalities. There are, for example, quieter and more solitary chimpanzees that live without causing problems in the community. But there are also especially authoritarian chimpanzees that are dedicated to picking a fight between their similes. From here, the question is what type of personalities are the most successful in this type of society.

After analyzing almost 40 years of daily interactions between Gombe chimpanzees, the experts found that the most confrontational animals were the most successful in reproducing and producing offspring. The most troublesome animals were also the ones that had risen higher on the social ladder. "Male chimpanzees whose personalities combine high mastery with low conscientiousness tend to have better outcomes in life," the study concludes. "It seems that intimidation has its advantages," add the researchers who have led this work.

Personality traits
But why does nature reward the most conflicting behaviors? The experts explain that, until now, one of the most supported theories holds that each personality trait helps us to thrive at one point or another in life. Aggression, for example, seems to help the younger specimens to make a place for themselves in the group. But when they reach old age, when this ability loses its social meaning, it seems that the most aggressive animals dilute this facet of their personality towards more affable traits. Something similar to what we could observe among humans.

It is not the first time that science has immersed itself in the study of the personality of our evolutionary cousins. Especially since, due to our closeness in the primate species tree, understanding how the character of these apes works could help us better understand why we are the way we are. A study published a few years ago in 'Scientific Data', in fact, establishes a certain parallelism between the personality traits observed in chimpanzees (both in the wild and in captivity) overlap with characteristics observed in our species.

According to several studies, in the same way that occurs among humans, chimpanzees have very distinctive individual personalities and, in addition, they also have social behaviors that change with age. On the one hand, as an analysis led by the University of Edinburgh points out, each of these animals has a unique combination of characteristics such as shyness or extroversion. On the other hand, as a study published in 'Science' shows, there are group behaviors such as, for example, the fact that older chimpanzees prefer to flee from conflicts and surround themselves only with their close circle of friends.

 

https://www.elperiodico.com/es/ciencia/20230424/chimpances-idiotas-triunfan-comunidad-86421764