Bonobos, one of the closest human relatives, deal with their emotions similarly to humans, a new study has found.
Researchers studying young bonobos in an African sanctuary have discovered striking similarities between the emotional development of the bonobos and that of human children, suggesting these great apes regulate their emotions in a human-like way.
This is important to human evolutionary history because it shows the socio-emotional framework commonly applied to children works equally well for apes.
Using this framework, researchers can test predictions of great ape behaviour and, as in the case of this study, confirm humans and apes share many aspects of emotional functioning.
Zanna Clay and Frans de Waal of the Living Links Center at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, conducted the study at a bonobo sanctuary near Kinshasa, Congo.
Detailed video analysis of daily social life at the sanctuary allowed Clay and de Waal to measure how bonobos handle their own emotions as well as how they react to the emotions of others.
They found the two were related in that bonobos that recovered quickly and easily from their own emotional upheavals, such as after losing a fight, showed more empathy for their fellow great apes.
Clay noted those bonobos more often gave body comfort (kissing, embracing, touching) to those in distress.
The bonobo (Pan paniscus), one of our closest primate relatives, is as genetically similar to humans as is the chimpanzee. The bonobo is widely considered the most empathic great ape, a conclusion brain research supports.
"This makes the species an ideal candidate for psychological comparisons. Any fundamental similarity between humans and bonobos probably traces back to their last common ancestor, which lived around six million years ago," said de Waal.
If the way bonobos handle their own emotions predicts how they react to those of others, this hints at emotion regulation, such as the ability to temper strong emotions and avoid over-arousal.
The study was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
