CHIMPANZEES reach out to cuddle stressed friends, suggesting it’s not just humans who feel empathy.
Following a fight between two individuals, the chimp on the receiving end of aggression tends to spend more time scratching and grooming itself – both indicators of stress. This behaviour subsides if the fighters subsequently reconcile. Yet chimps don’t always make up, and sometimes a third chimp will step in to comfort the distressed party.
Orlaith Fraser at the Liverpool John Moores University, UK, and her colleagues wondered whether this intervention could provide the same kind of stress relief as reconciliation does. The team studied 22…
