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  • From: Carrie McLaren <temporary181 AT stayfreemagazine.org>
  • To: monkeywire AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [monkeywire] Female-Led Wild Chimp Infanticides Studied
  • Date: Sat, 19 May 2007 21:50:06 -0400

Female-Led Wild Chimp Infanticides Studied
http://www.postchronicle.com/news/science/article_21281098.shtml
May 16, 2007

A Scottish-led study of Ugandan wild chimpanzees has found repeated instances of a poorly understood behavior: female-led infanticide.

Infanticide is known to occur in many primate species and is generally thought of as a male trait. But the new study involving Sonso chimpanzees in the Budongo Forest found instances of three female-led infanticidal attacks.

The researchers observed one infanticide and found strong circumstantial evidence for two others. The evidence suggested that in two of the cases, the killings were perpetrated by groups of resident females against "stranger" females from outside the resident group.

The researchers said their observations indicate such female-led infanticides are neither the result of isolated, pathological behaviors nor the by-product of male aggression but appear to represent part of the female behavior repertoire in chimpanzees.

The findings -- reported by Simon Townsend, Katie Slocombe and colleagues at the University of St. Andrews and the Budongo Forest Project in Uganda -- appear in the journal Current Biology.



  • [monkeywire] Female-Led Wild Chimp Infanticides Studied, Carrie McLaren, 05/19/2007

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