14 DAY TRIAL // It is a well-known fact that, as far as certain aspects of their behavior are concerned, chimps are not all that different from humans.
In fact, a new study published in the American Journal of Primatology argues that female chimpanzees are quite likely to be particularly friendly when interacting with males, and quite nasty when having to have a “conversation” with one another.
These conclusions were drawn by Nicole Scott, a doctoral student at the University of Minnesota.
According to Science World Report, it was not all that long ago that Nicole first decided to study the behavior of several chimps currently living at the Chester Zoo in the United Kingdom.
17 of these chimpanzees were females, whereas the remainder were males.
After spending significant amounts of time investigating the ways in which these animals relate to one another, Nicole Scott came to understand that females tended to be a tad more aggressive when having to settle a given issue with one of their kind.
Furthermore, they were rather reluctant whenever the time came for them to apologize to another female whose “feelings” they hurt while being aggressive.
In other words, they showed very little signs of wanting to comfort one of their own.
On the other hand, Nicole Scott noticed that these 17 females often displayed peculiarly friendly behaviors when finding themselves face-to-face with a male.
“When communicating with males, females sort of ‘suck up’ to them,” Nicole Scott summed up her findings when addressing members of the press.
Interestingly enough, the male's behavior remained roughly the same, regardless of the gender on the individual they were interacting with.
Because of this, Nicole Scot saw fit to forward the theory that female chimps are significantly more sensitive to the gender of their “interlocutor,” simply because males more often than not have a higher social status and therefore getting into their good graces stands to yield considerable benefits.