Female Chimps More Aggressive when Communicating with Each Other

Female chimps are more negative and aggressive when communicating with other females, reports BBC.

The study analyzed the different gesture strategies in female chimps at the Chester Zoo in the U.K. The study involved 17 females and 5 males. It was conducted by doctoral student Nicole Scott from the University of Minnesota.

She noticed that while interacting, the female chimps used aggressive signals and it was in rare cases that they apologized with gestures of comfort. But this was not the case when they interacted with males. While communicating with males, their expressions were more welcoming.

"When communicating with males, females sort of 'suck up' to them," PhD student Nicole Scott from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, was quoted as saying in BBC Nature.

The behavior of the female chimps was video-recorded.

According to Scott, the gesture was identified by the expressive movement of the limbs or head and body postures produced intentionally, reports BBC Nature.

They noticed no difference in the range of gestures in males and females. The difference appeared only in communication. The individual interactions were analyzed by the researchers. Only females used a different gesture, depending on the sex of the chimp they interacted with. This could be because the female chimps are more sensitive to the sex of the partner when compared to males.

The researcher feels that the study could be controversial, as males are considered to be more aggressive than females.

The details of the study were published in the American Journal of Primatology.