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Social influences on grooming site preferences in wild bonobos (Pan paniscus) at Wamba, DRC

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Abstract

Social grooming is assumed to have both social and hygienic functions. In monkey species, body site preferences during social grooming are related to both the dominance ranks of participating individuals and strength of social bonds. It is suggested that low-ranking groomees and individuals with weak social bonds expose less vulnerable sites of their body because doing so allows them to avoid eye contact, thus reducing the risk of aggression. This study aimed to investigate the influence of (1) the levels of affiliation (through analyses of sex, grooming frequency, and group membership during intergroup encounters), (2) dominance, (3) kinship, and (4) age on grooming site preferences (head, front, back, anogenital region, and limbs) in wild bonobos. Subjects were two groups of wild bonobos living in Wamba, DR Congo. Body site preferences were documented from video clips. Our results illustrate that the levels of affiliation between individuals and their dominance status do not seem to influence body site preferences, contrasting with results in monkey species. However, the selection of body sites was mostly influenced by age and kinship. Mothers were found to groom less accessible sites on their immature offspring’s body more than when grooming a non-related immature, suggesting that mothers invest in their offspring more to prevent diseases linked to ectoparasites. Finally, mature individuals groomed the inaccessible back more often than immature individuals, while the latter focused their grooming on the head and front. Overall, this study suggests hygienic functions of social grooming in wild bonobos.

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Acknowledgements

This study was financially supported by MEXT/JSPS Kakenhi #16H06283 to T. Matsuzawa, #15H05709 to M. Tomonaga, #15K00204 to M. Hayashi, JSPS Core-to-Core Program A CCSN to T. Matsuzawa, JSPS Core-to-Core Program B to T. Furuichi, JSPS grants in aid for Scientific Research to T. Furuichi, C. Hashimoto, and T. Yumoto, and the Leading Graduate Program in Primatology and Wildlife Science of Kyoto University (U04). We are grateful to the Ministry of Scientific Research of DR Congo, the Research Center for Ecology and Forestry (CREF), and the Wamba Committee for Bonobo Research (WCBR) for their research permission in Wamba, DR Congo. We are very thankful to the research assistants of PE and PW groups in Wamba for their help and assistance during the study. We would also like to thank Maegan Fitzgerald for help in editing the English text and two anonymous reviewers for providing valuable comments which have improved this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, 41 Kanrin, Inuyama, Aichi, 484-8506, Japan

    Morgane Allanic, Misato Hayashi & Takeshi Furuichi

  2. Institute for Advanced Study, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan

    Tetsuro Matsuzawa

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  1. Morgane Allanic
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  2. Misato Hayashi
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  3. Takeshi Furuichi
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  4. Tetsuro Matsuzawa
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Correspondence to Morgane Allanic.

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Allanic, M., Hayashi, M., Furuichi, T. et al. Social influences on grooming site preferences in wild bonobos (Pan paniscus) at Wamba, DRC. Primates 61, 213–223 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10329-019-00788-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10329-019-00788-z

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