Bonobo Females Lead Most Hunts in Decade Study

A ten-year study of wild bonobos has revealed that hunting is predominantly carried out by females, a finding that overturns the species’ reputation as largely non-hunting. The bonobo females hunt study, led by researchers from the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, is the first to examine hunting behaviour in two wild bonobo communities across a full decade. The research was published in the journal Current Biology and reported on 27 October 2026. Females were identified as hunters in 60 percent of the recorded hunts, regardless of whether they were carrying infants at the time.

Bonobos, close relatives of chimpanzees, have long been described as peaceful and largely non-hunting, in contrast to chimpanzees, where males often lead hunts. The new work shows a different picture, with females shaping the hunting of vertebrates in wild bonobo groups. The team, led by Gottfried Hohmann and colleagues, followed the animals over many years, recording hunts, prey and the roles of individual animals. That long view was essential, because hunting is an uncommon event in bonobo life, and short studies can miss it or misread who takes part.

What bonobo females hunt reveals

The findings invite a fresh look at how hunting, food sharing and social life are linked in bonobos, and how they differ from the patterns seen in chimpanzees. If females lead hunts, they may also shape how meat is shared and how social bonds are formed around food. The study does not claim that bonobos hunt as often as chimpanzees, only that when they do hunt, females are central to the activity. For researchers studying human evolution, the work is a reminder that our closest relatives show more variety in behaviour than simple stereotypes suggest, and that long-term fieldwork is often needed to see it clearly across seasons and years.

Source: Phys.org