Environmental context matters for interpreting species differences in Pan aggression

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)

Abstract

This commentary addresses the findings of Bryon et al. (2026, Science Advances), who use multi‑zoo data on bonobos and chimpanzees to infer species‑typical patterns of aggression under standardized conditions. We argue this inference is problematic for two reasons. First, ecological and social variation in the wild is not noise but relevant context, so flattening food, ranging, intergroup competition, and mating contexts can obscure evolved differences. Second, captivity introduces strong, species‑atypical confounds such as constrained ranging, altered group composition, and active management of aggression, which can systematically affect behavior. We therefore caution against treating zoo‑based comparisons as decisive evidence for evolved species differences and advocate integrating captive with ecologically relevant wild data.

Authors 19

1. Martin Surbeck

   Harvard University

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard

2. Leveda Cheng

   University of St Andrews

   Affiliation as printed

   School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews

3. Zanna Clay

   Durham University

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Psychology, Durham University

4. Crockford Cathrine

   Lyon 1 Université · Institut des Sciences Cognitives

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute for Cognitive Sciences, University of Lyon 1

5. Tobias Deschner

   Osnabrück University

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Osnabrück

6. Jan Engelmann

   University of California, Berkeley

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Psychology, University of California Berkeley

7. T. Furuichi

   Wildlife Research Center, Kyoto University

   Affiliation as printed

   Wildlife Research Center, Kyoto University

8. Gottfried Hohmann

   Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology

   Affiliation as printed

   Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig

9. Mariska E. Kret Aachen Institute of Psychology, Leiden University

   Leiden University

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute of Psychology , Leiden University

10. Maud Mouginot

    Boston University

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Anthropology, Boston University

11. Simone Pika

    Osnabrück University

    Affiliation as printed

    Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Osnabrück

12. Crickette Sanz

    Washington University in St. Louis

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Anthropology, Washington University in Saint Louis

13. Claudio Tennie

    University of Tübingen

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Geosciences, University of Tübingen

14. Nahoko Tokuyama
15. Erin Wessling

    Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology

    Affiliation as printed

    Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig

16. M Wilson

    University of Minnesota

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota

17. Roman Martin Wittig

    Lyon 1 Université · Institut des Sciences Cognitives

    Affiliation as printed

    Institute for Cognitive Sciences, University of Lyon 1

18. Richard W. Wrangham

    Harvard University

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University

19. Liran Samuni

    Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology

    Affiliation as printed

    Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig