Oxytocin levels surge in troops of chimpanzees preparing for conflict with rival groups

Thursday, January 19th, 2017

Oxytocin levels surge in troops of chimpanzees preparing for conflict with rival groups:

The finding is at odds with the prevailing image of oxytocin as something that helps strengthen bonds between parent and infant, or foster friendships. But given its capacity to strengthen loyalty, oxytocin could also be a warmonger hormone that helps chimps galvanise and cooperate against a common enemy.

Catherine Crockford of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, and her colleagues monitored two rival groups of chimpanzees in the Taï National Park in Ivory Coast, each containing five males and five females, for prolonged periods between October 2013 and May 2015.

Thanks to trust built up between the team and the chimps, the team could safely track and video the groups – even during conflict, observing at close quarters what was happening. Crucially, the team was also able to pipette up fresh samples from soil when chimps urinated.

The samples revealed that oxytocin levels surge in the mammals whenever the chimps on either side prepared for confrontation, or when either group took the risk of venturing near or into rival-held territories. These surges dwarfed the oxytocin levels seen during activities such as grooming, collaborative hunting for monkey prey or food sharing.

Comments

  1. Adar says:

    PTSD as understood in part because of the stress as induced by chemicals flowing in the human body that ordinarily are not present. ONLY begin to flow during a time of great stress or danger. As in mortal combat.

    Soldier’s heart during the American Civil War. Young and robust young men just collapse dead for inexplicable reasons. Probably too much chemicals flowing like adrenaline that overwhelm the heart muscles.

  2. Sam J. says:

    “Thanks to trust built up between the team and the chimps, the team could safely track and video the groups – even during conflict, observing at close quarters what was happening.”

    There’s no way you could get me out in the woods with a troupe of wild Chimps. Those things are fiendishly strong and are known to attack people. There’s been quite a few gruesome attacks by “tame” Chimps. Here‘s one done by our loving brothers.

  3. Lu An Li says:

    Guppies do it too!!

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