Conflict is common in the animal world in which different species and individuals within species compete for food, partners, or status.
Primatologists
at the Louis Pasteur University in Strasbourg have found that the Tonkean
macaques of the Indonesian island of Sulawesi demonstrate peace building
behaviour.
Tonkean
black macaques are large black monkeys of central Sulawesi and Togian Islands. In
1972 some were transported to France and studied at Louis Pasteur University’s
Primate Centre in a wooded enclosure.
Studies
of primates found that macaques (particular Barbary macaques) showed bouts of intense
aggression and submission, strict hierarchical rules, and a strong preference
for kinship—preferring the company of their relatives with less tolerance
towards others. So nepotism and dominance rule the realms of most macaque
species.
However,
the Tonkean macaques (Macaca tonkeana) and those at the Primate Centre appear
to be exceptions to the rule. Submissive behaviour during conflict situations was
not as predominant as the researchers had expected. In more than half of
confict situations, the threatened individual retaliated—and this was the case
regardless of age or sex.
In
primates, threatened individuals usually submit or flee (make themselves
smaller, cower, or run away. It was quite common for the Tonkean macaque researchers
to see the dominant male being chased by screeching individuals, showing that
they were not afraid to rally against the dominant macaque. Nevertheless, dominance
relationships were stable in the studied group—there was no overthrowing of the
male in power, but nor was there the usual primate behaviour of submission. So
what was happening in conflict situations in the Tonkean community?
First,
the level of contact between different ranked (related and non-related) Tonkean
macaques was high. Lower ranked males
and females engaged in regular contact with their higher ranking peers. Their
lack of inhibitions in relating with others, and their lack of formality in
social relations was quite apparent. Even the young engaged frequently with
older individuals without aggression or fear. Mothers allowed their children,
from an early age, to interact with any group member at any time.
Second,
the level of competition for higher-ranking partners was quite low. There was
an overall high social tolerance of all ranks—demonstrated by their co-feeding
with no aggression. However, there was quite a bit of silent treatment—the frequent
bared-teeth display. This was not an expression of aggression or submission.
Rather, it was a signal of peaceful intent, say the French researchers.
Third,
mild punishment often merged with genuine reconciliation. Individual,
especially female, macaques frequently intervened to break up fights among
their neighbours. For example, a female may intervene if its offspring is the
aggressor by hugging and nibbling the youngster. The researchers described this
behaviour as “affinitive punishment” in which an individual closely related to the
aggressor was involved in mitigating the conflict. The high frequency of
peaceful interventions in conflicts was most often the result of a third
individual mediating during the situation. The third individual would approach
one of the two macaques involved in a dispute—usually approaching the aggressor—and
would appease the individual using a lipsmack, clasp or hug, or with play.
In
all cases where a third party intervened in the Tonkean macaque community, the
intervention stopped the conflict, and that the act of intervention was usually
followed by social grooming between the intervener and its target. These highly
conciliatory tendencies minimized the conflict within the entire community on a
long term basis.
Fourth,
non-aggressive contacts were also frequent among previous opponents.
Post-conflict reconciliation appeared in 51% of cases with unrelated adult
individuals, which was higher than in any other group of macaques in which reconciliation
was studied. Therefore there was no significant difference in post-conflict
reconciliation between family members or between non-related macaques.
Fifth,
any individual macaque may huddle with any other, regardless of age, sex, or
kinship. Helping family members before helping others was not a common
characteristic of Tonkean macaques—the group was cohesive and coordinated,
helping each other and using frequent vocalizations (twits and cackles) to
inform other individuals.
But
not everything was positive among the Tonkean macaque community. The community
didn’t like their neighbouring macaque groups in the adjacent enclosure at the university’s
Primate Centre. Some escaped their enclosure and entered the enclosure of the
rhesus and longtail macaques and attacked them—on five occassions. And they
continued to display aggressive facial expressions toward their neighbours when
they were returned to their own enclosure.
“Tonkean macaque behaviour from the
perspective of the evolution of Sulawesi macaques” in Current Primatology,
vol.2: Social Development, Learning and Behaviour, Louis Pasteur University,
Strasbourg, 1994, by Bernard Thierry et al.
Photograph from http://parkofindonesia.blogspot.com/2012/11/lore-lindu.html
MARTINA NICOLLS is an international
aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of
Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet
(2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).
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