It seems that the concept of the #GirlSquad might run deeper than just Taylor Swift and co.
A recent study into the behaviour of bonobos in the Democratic Republic of Congo (where they live exclusively) has found that female bonobos form girl-only groups.
But first, a bit of bonobo background: bonobos are extremely similar to chimpanzees (they share around 99.6% of the same genetics and both share somewhere between 98-99% of genetics with us humans) but they differ in both the way they look and behave. Bonobo’s tend to be smaller and slighter than Chimps, with pink lips and black faces. They also have longer hair on their head which parts down the middle. Chic.
On top of that, groups of chimps are led by an alpha male and govern using aggression, whilst groups of bonobos are dominated by females and are basically way more chill and sensitive.
Over the four year study, researchers found that when females formed groups, they would typically attack males because the grouping was usually in response to a male being aggressive. Basically, bonobo's have realised that they're stronger together and can more easily defeat any dickish male bonobos if they formed a group. Sound familiar?
Apparently it's very common for primates to form coalitions but typically amongst realitives. What's unique about bonobos is that they often form alliances between non-relatives because females tend to leave their birth group during adolescence. In other words, bonobos don't discriminate; their focus is protecting themselves from the males so all the females have got eachothers backs.
'Unlike female coalitions in other species that use coalitions to cope with competition among females, our results suggest that coalitions in female bonobos might have evolved as a counterstrategy against male harassment,' researchers explained. To simplify: bonobos are all about the Girl Power. Into it.
They also found that older females supported younger ones (again, our society can take some pointers from this) although it might be for slightly, less girl power-y reasons. Lead author Nahoko Tokuyama of Kyoto University explained that, ‘It's beneficial for the older females as well, because the younger females start spending more time with them in hopes of getting protection,' he explained. 'This way, the older female can give her son more opportunities to mate with the younger females.’
In summary: bonobos are our spirit animal.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.