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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
agricultural and biological sciences
Urinary oxytocin and social bonding in related and unrelated wild chimpanzees
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, Volume 280, No. 1755, Article 20122765, Year 2013
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Description
Animals that maintain cooperative relationships show gains in longevity and offspring survival. However, little is known about the cognitive or hor-monal mechanisms involved in cooperation. Indeed, there is little support for a main hypothesis that non-human animals have the cognitive capacities required for bookkeeping of cooperative exchanges. We tested an alternative hypothesis that cooperative relationships are facilitated by an endocrino-logical mechanism involving oxytocin, a hormone required for bonding in parental and sexual relationships across mammals. We measured urinary oxytocin after single bouts of grooming in wild chimpanzees. Oxytocin levels were higher after grooming with bond partners compared with non-bond partners or after no grooming, regardless of genetic relatedness or sexual interest. We ruled out other possible confounds, such as grooming duration, grooming direction or sampling regime issues, indicating that changes in oxytocin levels were mediated by social bond strength. Oxytocin, which is thought to act directly on neural reward and social memory systems, is likely to play a key role in keeping track of social interactions with multiple individuals over time. The evolutionary linkage of an ances-tral hormonal system with complex social cognition may be the primary mechanism through which long-term cooperative relationships develop between both kin and non-kin in mammals. © 2013 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.
Authors & Co-Authors
Crockford, Catherine
United Kingdom, St Andrews
University of st Andrews
Uganda, Masindi
Budongo Conservation Field Station
Germany, Leipzig
Max-planck-institut Für Evolutionäre Anthropologie
Wittig, Roman Martin
United Kingdom, St Andrews
University of st Andrews
Uganda, Masindi
Budongo Conservation Field Station
Germany, Leipzig
Max-planck-institut Für Evolutionäre Anthropologie
Langergraber, Kevin E.
Germany, Leipzig
Max-planck-institut Für Evolutionäre Anthropologie
United States, Boston
Boston University
Ziegler, Toni Elaine
United States, Madison
Wisconsin National Primate Research Center
Zuberbühler, Klaus
United Kingdom, St Andrews
University of st Andrews
Uganda, Masindi
Budongo Conservation Field Station
Switzerland, Neuchatel
Université de Neuchâtel
Deschner, Tobias
Germany, Leipzig
Max-planck-institut Für Evolutionäre Anthropologie
Statistics
Citations: 297
Authors: 6
Affiliations: 6
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1098/rspb.2012.2765
ISSN:
09628452
e-ISSN:
14712954
Research Areas
Genetics And Genomics
Sexual And Reproductive Health