The DOI matches its Crossref record; 46 of the 48 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
The limited impact of kinship on cooperation in wild chimpanzees
Open accessAbstract
The complex cooperative behavior exhibited by wild chimpanzees generates considerable theoretical and empirical interest, yet we know very little about the mechanisms responsible for its evolution. Here, we investigate the influence of kinship on the cooperative behavior of male chimpanzees living in an unusually large community at Ngogo in Kibale National Park, Uganda. Using long-term field observations and molecular genetic techniques to identify kin relations between individuals, we show that male chimpanzees clearly prefer to affiliate and cooperate with their maternal brothers in several behavioral contexts. Despite these results, additional analyses reveal that the impact of kinship is limited; paternal brothers do not selectively affiliate and cooperate, probably because they cannot be reliably recognized, and the majority of highly affiliative and cooperative dyads are actually unrelated or distantly related. These findings add to a growing body of research that indicates that animals cooperate with each other to obtain both direct and indirect fitness benefits and that complex cooperation can occur between kin and nonkin alike.
Overview
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“Food sharing between unrelated individuals outside the mating context is rare but has been reported for humans, vampire bats, chimpanzees and bonobos [13,46,48,49,52].”
From Food sharing is linked to urinary oxytocin levels and bonding in related and unrelated wild chimpanzees (2014) · cites this paper as [13]
In the citing paper
“What makes food sharing in chimpanzees unusual in the animal kingdom is that, as well as occurring between kin [52] and in sexual contexts [50], food sharing also occurs between non-kin adults in non-sexual contexts [13,15,52,53].”
From Food sharing is linked to urinary oxytocin levels and bonding in related and unrelated wild chimpanzees (2014) · cites this paper as [13]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Citations
Cites
A Simple Sequentially Rejective Multiple Test Procedure
(1979) · Scandinavian Journal of Statistics · doi:10.2307/4615733 · Cited by 21,526
The genetical evolution of social behaviour. I
Hamilton, W. D. (1964) · Journal of Theoretical Biology · doi:10.1016/0022-5193(64)90038-4 · Cited by 15,725
Five Rules for the Evolution of Cooperation
Nowak, M. A. (2006) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1133755 · Cited by 5,894
The Chimpanzees of Gombe: Patterns of Behavior
Goodall, J. R. (1986) · DigitalGeorgetown (Georgetown University Library) · Cited by 3,384
Edgington, E. S., Edgington, E., & Onghena, P. (1964) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1002/0471667196.ess2169 · Cited by 2,052
Social norms and human cooperation
Fehr, E., & Fischbacher, U. (2004) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2004.02.007 · Cited by 1,615
Sachs, J. L., Mueller, U. G., Wilcox, T. P., & Bull, J. J. (2004) · The Quarterly Review of Biology · doi:10.1086/383541 · Cited by 1,140
The Chimpanzees of the Taï Forest: Behavioural Ecology and Evolution
Boesch, C., & Boesch-Achermann, H. (2000) · doi:10.1093/oso/9780198505082.001.0001 · Cited by 1,079
Breeding Together: Kin Selection and Mutualism in Cooperative Vertebrates
Clutton-Brock, T. H. (2002) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.296.5565.69 · Cited by 945
Dugatkin, L. A. (1997) · doi:10.1093/oso/9780195086218.001.0001 · Cited by 734
Research works printed but not linked: 5
- JC Mitani Cooperation in Primates: Mechanisms and Evolution, eds P Kappeler, C van Schaik (Springer, Berlin), pp. 101–113 (2005).
- F de Waal, S Brosnan Cooperation in Primates: Mechanisms and Evolution, eds P Kappeler, C van Schaik (Springer, Berlin), pp. 85–105 (2005).
- WG Holmes, PW Sherman Am Sci 71, 46–55 (1983).
- T Struhsaker Ecology of an African Rainforest (Univ Press of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 1997).
- S Holm Scand J Stat 6, 65–70 (1979).
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Items 301–400 of 464
Biological and Experimental Perspectives on Self-Interest: Reciprocal Altruism and Genetic Egoism
Rusch, H., & Frey, U. J. (2012) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-94-007-1494-6_28 · Cited by 3
Deng, K., Liu, W., & Wang, D. (2018) · Current Zoology · doi:10.1093/cz/zoy082 · Cited by 3
Recognition of visual kinship signals in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) by humans (Homo sapiens).
Péter, H., Laporte, M. N. C., Newton‐Fisher, N. E., Reynolds, V., Samuni, L., Soldati, A., Vigilant, L., Villioth, J., Graham, K. E., Zuberbühler, K., et al. (2022) · Journal of comparative psychology · doi:10.1037/com0000327 · Cited by 3
Self-citationIshizuka, S., Inoue, E., & Kaji, Y. (2024) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0309056 · Cited by 3
Niger-Congo archaeolinguistics, including Bantu
Bostoen, K. A. G., Coutros, P. R., & Schlebusch, C. M. (2025) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780192868350.013.30 · Cited by 4
Sino-Tibetan archaeolinguistics
Bradley, D. T. C., Li, L., Ning, C., & Martello, R. D. (2025) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780192868350.013.22 · Cited by 3
Breed, M. D., & Moore, J. (2015) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-801532-2.00014-3 · Cited by 3
Milton, K., Nolin, D. A., Ellis, K. M., Lozier, J. D., Sandel, B., & Lacey, E. A. (2016) · Primates · doi:10.1007/s10329-016-0523-5 · Cited by 3
Kalbitzer, U. (2014) · eDiss (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen) · doi:10.53846/goediss-4754 · Cited by 3
Mutualistic cooperation – why religion is common but saints are rare
Matthews, L. J. (2016) · Religion Brain & Behavior · doi:10.1080/2153599x.2016.1156561 · Cited by 3
Social bonding, gestural complexity and displacement behaviour of wild chimpanzeePreprint
Roberts, A. I., & Roberts, S. G. B. (2019) · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · doi:10.1101/678805 · Cited by 3
Oliveira, M. F. D. S., & Wasterlain, S. N. (2020) · Antropologia Portuguesa · doi:10.14195/2182-7982_37_1 · Cited by 2
Historical comparative linguistics and language classification
Barlow, R., & Campbell, L. R. (2025) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780192868350.013.3 · Cited by 2
Bayesian phylogenetics for language prehistory— and archaeology
Heggarty, P., & Powell, A. (2025) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780192868350.013.11 · Cited by 2
Wichmann, S. (2025) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780192868350.013.6 · Cited by 2
Archaeolinguistics of Papuan languages
Schapper, A., Gaffney, D., & Brucato, N. (2025) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780192868350.013.26 · Cited by 2
Why do the chimpanzees of the Taï Forest share meat? The value of bartering, begging and hunting
Gomes, C. M., Mundry, R., & Boesch, C. (2019) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108674218.021 · Cited by 2
Differences in MHC-B diversity and KIR epitopes in two populations of wild chimpanzees
Maibach, V., Langergraber, K. E., Leendertz, F. H., Wittig, R. M., & Vigilant, L. (2019) · Immunogenetics · doi:10.1007/s00251-019-01148-3 · Cited by 1
Self-citationEine Analyse ultimaten Verhaltens als Erklärungsansatz des moral hazards
Koch, G., Ostner, J., Peisker, M., & Schülke, O. (2009) · Zeitschrift für die gesamte Versicherungswissenschaft · doi:10.1007/s12297-009-0058-6 · Cited by 2
Male Reproductive Skew and Paternal Kin-Biased Behavior in Primates
Inoue, E. (2011) · Primatology monographs · doi:10.1007/978-4-431-53892-9_3 · Cited by 2
Infant Handling and Allonursing in White-Faced Capuchins (Cebus capucinus)
Sargeant, E. J. (2014) · Libraries and Cultural Resources (University of Calgary) · doi:10.11575/prism/26510 · Cited by 2
Chapais, B. (2021) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-19650-3_1502 · Cited by 2
Genetic Tools to Investigate the Consequences of Sex
Gerber, L., & Krützen, M. (2023) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-35651-3_2 · Cited by 1
Archaeolinguistics of the languages of the Andes
Urban, M., Barbieri, C., & Rademaker, K. (2025) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780192868350.013.33 · Cited by 1
Indo-European archaeolinguistics
Lubotsky, A., & Pronk, T. (2025) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780192868350.013.18 · Cited by 2
Austronesian archaeolinguistics
Spriggs, M., Geraghty, P., & Liu, Y.-C. (2025) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780192868350.013.25 · Cited by 2
Vesakoski, O., Salmela, E., & Piezonka, H. (2025) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780192868350.013.19 · Cited by 3
The phylogenetic construction of sociocultural phenomena
Chapais, B. (2013) · Israel Journal of Ecology and Evolution · doi:10.1080/15659801.2013.839271 · Cited by 1
Francesconi, M., Ghiglino, C., & Perry, M. (2013) · AgEcon Search (University of Minnesota, USA) · doi:10.22004/ag.econ.270431 · Cited by 1
Association patterns in a high-elevation chimpanzee community in Rwanda
Grueter, C. C., Ridley, A. R., Kaplin, B. A., & Matthews, J. K. (2022) · Ethology Ecology & Evolution · doi:10.1080/03949370.2022.2152104 · Cited by 1
Archaeolinguistics and the languages of hunter-gatherers
Evans, N. (2025) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780192868350.013.13 · Cited by 1
Dunn, M. G. (2025) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780192868350.013.7 · Cited by 1
Bowern, C., Llamas, B., Miceli, L., Tobler, R., & Veth, P. (2025) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780192868350.013.27 · Cited by 1
Breed, M. D., & Moore, J. (2012) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-372581-3.00014-3 · Cited by 1
Berkel, G. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108863599 · Cited by 1
Marchesini, R., & Celentano, M. (2021) · Numanities - arts and humanities in progress · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-74203-4_3 · Cited by 1
Cooperation, Coalition, and Alliances
Hemelrijk, C. K., Puga‐Gonzalez, I., & Steinhauser, J. (2013) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-642-27800-6_43-4 · Cited by 1
Thinking Outside the Altruistic Box
Matthews, L. J. (2022) · Journal of Cognitive Historiography · doi:10.1558/jch.39066 · Cited by 1
Watts, D. P. (2015) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-802652-6.00005-0 · Cited by 1
Fission-Fusion Dynamics in Spider Monkeys in Belize
Hartwell, K. S. (2016) · Libraries and Cultural Resources (University of Calgary) · doi:10.11575/prism/26183 · Cited by 1
Collective Dynamics in Physical and Social Networks
Isakov, A. (2016) · Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard (DASH) (Harvard University) · Cited by 1
de Waal, F. Β. Μ. (2018) · Wiley eBooks · doi:10.1002/9781119362081.ch4 · Cited by 1
A genomic investigation of bonobo (Pan paniscus) and chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) divergence
Brand, C. M. (2021) · Scholars' Bank (University of Oregon) · Cited by 1
Primate Behavior, Social Flexibility, and Conservation
Strier, K. B. (2023) · Wiley eBooks · doi:10.1002/9781119828075.ch18 · Cited by 1
Noble, J. N. (2008) · Edinburgh Research Archive (University of Edinburgh)
Primate Behavior and Sociality
Strier, K. B. (2010) · Wiley eBooks · doi:10.1002/9781444320039.ch14
Social Decision-Making in Bonobos and Chimpanzees
Krupenye, C. (2016) · DukeSpace (Duke University)
RESEARCH ARTICLE Kinship and Social Bonds in Female Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)
Langergraber, K. E., Mitani, J. C., & Vigilant, L. (2009)
Self-citationHow did altruism and reciprocity evolve in humans?: Perspectives from experiments on chimpanzees
Yamamoto, S., & Tanaka, M. (2009)
Malone, N. (2015) · Critique of Anthropology · doi:10.1177/0308275x15594535
Next-Generation Sequencing in Primate Molecular Ecology
Hayakawa, T. (2018) · Primate Research · doi:10.2354/psj.34.004
Allen, N. J., Callan, H., Dunbar, R., & James, W. (2008) · Wiley eBooks · doi:10.1002/9781444302714.biblio
Breed, M. D., & Moore, J. (2021) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-819558-1.00014-2
Berkel, G. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108863599.005
Blocking: The Three Traps of Learning
Berkel, G. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108863599.007
Berkel, G. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108863599.017
Berkel, G. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108863599.014
Ambivalence: The Triple Challenge of Negotiation
Berkel, G. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108863599.003
Berkel, G. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108863599.006
Berkel, G. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108863599.012
Ambitious Humility: The Three Steps of Learning
Berkel, G. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108863599.011
Berkel, G. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108863599.008
Berkel, G. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108863599.004
Berkel, G. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108863599.010
Berkel, G. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108863599.009
(2018) · Dunod eBooks · doi:10.3917/dunod.darma.2018.01.0197
Berkel, G. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108863599.001
Conclusion and Outlook: Humility and Artificial Intelligence
Berkel, G. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108863599.015
Berkel, G. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108863599.013
(2015) · Wiley eBooks · doi:10.1002/9781119118206.biblio
Berkel, G. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108863599.002
Mitani, J. C. (2010) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-813251-7.00054-7
Self-citationMelis, A. P., & Warneken, F. (2021) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-91280-6_279
Berkel, G. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108863599.016
Kappeler, P. M. (2014) · doi:10.1093/obo/9780199830060-0045
Berkel, G. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108863599.018
Chapais, B. (2016) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1502-1
Mitani, J. C. (2010) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-08-045337-8.00054-1
Self-citationWartime forced sex as a male mating strategy
Mogielnicki, C. (2023) · Theory in Biosciences · doi:10.1007/s12064-023-00386-0
Ishizuka, S., & Inoue, E. (2023) · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · doi:10.1101/2023.02.14.528291
Explaining the War and Its Aftermath
Ferguson, R. B. (2023) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780197506752.003.0006
Scale and Geopolitics at Ngogo
Ferguson, R. B. (2023) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780197506752.003.0013
Central Chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes troglodytes
Ferguson, R. B. (2023) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780197506752.003.0019
Ferguson, R. B. (2023) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780197506752.003.0008
Human Impact, Critiqued and Documented
Ferguson, R. B. (2023) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780197506752.003.0029
Ferguson, R. B. (2023) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780197506752.003.0003
Ferguson, R. B. (2023) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780197506752.003.0004
Ferguson, R. B. (2023) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780197506752.003.0011
Sociality and Intergroup Relations
Ferguson, R. B. (2023) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780197506752.003.0022
Eastern Chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii
Ferguson, R. B. (2023) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780197506752.003.0018
Ferguson, R. B. (2023) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780197506752.002.0009
Metadata
- Authors
- Langergraber, K. E., Mitani, J. C., & Vigilant, L.
- Affiliations
- University of Michigan (US)
- Max Planck Society (DE)
- Venue
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Publisher
- National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 2007-05-08
- Volume
- 104
- Issue
- 19
- Pages
- 7786-7790
- ISSN
- 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-6490
- PMC
- PMC1876525
- OpenAlex
- W2102487116
- Cited by
- 464
- References
- 48
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 45 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 52 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 24 · 2020: 39 · 2019: 21 · 2018: 25 · 2017: 16 · 2016: 22 · 2015: 24 · 2014: 32 · 2013: 27 · 2012: 24
- FWCI
- 29.30
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (submittedVersion)
- MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Primate Behavior and Ecology
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Animal Behavior and Reproduction
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation
- Keywords
- kinship, cooperation, chimpanzees, indirect fitness benefits, social evolution, dyadic cooperation, relatedness
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Pan troglodytes, Cooperative Behavior, Biological Evolution, Male, Siblings
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
