Over a period of 21 months, researchers from Liverpool and London studied the behaviour of 22 chimps in Chester Zoo. This is one of the largest groups of chimps in a European zoo, containing 29 animals.
After a conflict occurred, it was seen that the animals that had lost the fight were scratching themselves and were fleeing. This behaviour is translated as ‘feeling uncomfortable’. Animals that were stroked or hugged by other chimps that were not involved in the conflict scratched themselves considerably less. The comforting behaviour came mostly from chimps they had a good bond with.
When the conflict was ‘solved’ and did not have a clear loser, the other chimps were not giving a lot of comfort. It was simply not necessary, as there were no feelings of discomfort. ‘Comforting behaviour’ has been seen before, but it was not showed yet that this behaviour actually reduced stress.
An article about this research was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in June 2008.
Comforting reduces stress
08oktober2008
Also with chimps the amount of stress after a fight is reduced by a hug or a kiss. This was the conclusion of a research on a group of chimps in Chester Zoo in England.
