Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
Editorials & Other Articles
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Want To Topple the Patriarchy? Learn From Female Bonobos
These matriarchal apes can teach us a thing or two about power, alliances, and keeping the peace
Katie Jgln
Jun 11, 2025
(Snip)
A recent study published in Communications Biology offers the most detailed insight yet into how these coalitions actually function. Drawing on nearly three decades of data from six wild bonobo communities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, it confirmed what some have suspected for decades: female bonobos use strong social bonds as a behavioural tool, not just to suppress aggression, but to catapult themselves into positions of influence. The researchers dubbed it the ‘female coalition hypothesis.’
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the vast majority (85%) of observed cases of female coalitionary aggression were directed at males who stepped out of line, whether by harassing a female or her offspring or trying to monopolise food. And in 61% of those conflicts, the females came out on top. Defeated males typically lost social rank and sometimes sustained injuries — in the most extreme cases, even death — while their female opponents gained status. Interestingly, some males joined these female-led ‘gangs,’ too.
The study also confirmed that female bonobos usually occupy the highest ranks in their communities, with an average female outranking about 70% of the males. Still, this varied quite a bit across different groups and periods. In the Eyengo and Kokoalongo communities, for instance, females were almost never outranked by males and rarely lost conflicts with them. In contrast, in the Ekalakala community, the average female outranked only about a third of the males. The key difference? In the first two groups, females consistently supported one another, which helped them win conflicts and advance through the ranks.
(Snip)
It’s worth noting that, just as in the past or surviving female-centred human communities, female-led structures in the animal kingdom — also seen in species like lemurs, vervet monkeys, geladas, hyenas, killer whales, lions, spotted hyenas, and elephants to name a few — aren’t simply mirror images of male-dominated ones. Females aren’t necessarily clashing antlers over male attention, staging violent power grabs, or taking over typically ‘male’ roles; they’re often working from an entirely different script.
(Lots more: https://thenoosphere.substack.com/p/want-to-topple-the-patriarchy-learn?r=koyxw&utm_medium=ios&triedRedirect=true)
Katie Jgln
Jun 11, 2025
(Snip)
A recent study published in Communications Biology offers the most detailed insight yet into how these coalitions actually function. Drawing on nearly three decades of data from six wild bonobo communities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, it confirmed what some have suspected for decades: female bonobos use strong social bonds as a behavioural tool, not just to suppress aggression, but to catapult themselves into positions of influence. The researchers dubbed it the ‘female coalition hypothesis.’
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the vast majority (85%) of observed cases of female coalitionary aggression were directed at males who stepped out of line, whether by harassing a female or her offspring or trying to monopolise food. And in 61% of those conflicts, the females came out on top. Defeated males typically lost social rank and sometimes sustained injuries — in the most extreme cases, even death — while their female opponents gained status. Interestingly, some males joined these female-led ‘gangs,’ too.
The study also confirmed that female bonobos usually occupy the highest ranks in their communities, with an average female outranking about 70% of the males. Still, this varied quite a bit across different groups and periods. In the Eyengo and Kokoalongo communities, for instance, females were almost never outranked by males and rarely lost conflicts with them. In contrast, in the Ekalakala community, the average female outranked only about a third of the males. The key difference? In the first two groups, females consistently supported one another, which helped them win conflicts and advance through the ranks.
(Snip)
It’s worth noting that, just as in the past or surviving female-centred human communities, female-led structures in the animal kingdom — also seen in species like lemurs, vervet monkeys, geladas, hyenas, killer whales, lions, spotted hyenas, and elephants to name a few — aren’t simply mirror images of male-dominated ones. Females aren’t necessarily clashing antlers over male attention, staging violent power grabs, or taking over typically ‘male’ roles; they’re often working from an entirely different script.
(Lots more: https://thenoosphere.substack.com/p/want-to-topple-the-patriarchy-learn?r=koyxw&utm_medium=ios&triedRedirect=true)
3 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
