'Chimpanzees of a feather sit together': Friendships are based on homophily in personality
Wednesday, October 9, 2013 - 17:00
in Biology & Nature
This is chimpanzee Tushi. Jorg Massen (University of Vienna) and Sonja Koski (University of Zurich) together measured chimpanzee personality in two zoos with behavioural experiments and years of observations of chimpanzee behaviour. They also carefully logged which chimpanzee sat in body contact with whom most. "This is a clear sign of friendship among chimpanzees", explains Jorg Massen. Subsequently, the researchers tested, if those chimpanzees who sit together frequently have similar or different personality types.