In the wild, the young, tumescent females – dubbed “pink ladies” by Jane Goodall – are said to like the attention it brings them. But while his interest in the girls may be limited to looking, he is unrelenting. Many chimps raised in unnatural environments like laboratory nurseries or human homes never develop these skills, despite some rather obvious biological urges. Sadly, Burrito never exhibits any other mating behavior. He loves them so much that he sleeps on the floor below the benches where the girls makes their nests so that he can stare at them all night. He loves them so much that he follows the girls wherever they go when they have their swellings. We don’t see mate guarding per se here at CSNW, but that’s not to say that Burrito is unaffected by the swellings of the females in his group. The lesson was clear: Rachel was off limits when she had her swelling. Then one day, all I did was say hello to Rachel and before I knew it, Jethro had spit a huge mouthful of water directly in my face. I was just getting to know two young adult chimps named Jethro and Rachel and I enjoyed interacting with both of them each time I visited. I remember learning about mate guarding the hard way when volunteering at another sanctuary. In addition to an overall uptick in group tension and aggression, one result we often see is a behavior called mate guarding. Those big, pink backsides make the females incredibly attractive to the males and it can ignite a lot of testosterone-fueled behavior. Male chimpanzees aren’t exactly the more level-headed of the two sexes to begin with, but when tumescent females are present, all bets are off. One thing is for sure – swellings have a significant effect on male chimpanzees. Bonobo societies are structured very differently than chimpanzee societies – they are quite famously female dominated – so it may be that a different evolutionary strategy was required. Like humans, it seems that bonobos conceal ovulation. ![]() Interestingly (to primatologists, anyway), a recent study of free-living bonobos found that while they exhibit sexual swellings, their swellings do not reliably indicate fertility as they do in their chimpanzee cousins. In all likelihood, it is some combination of these factors. ![]() The list of hypotheses goes on, but none seem to be fully supported by the data on their own. Or it could provide more immediate benefits to the females, as the males must work to protect them during their consortships. Or it could increase competition between males for mating access, thereby helping females filter for males with greater fitness. It could be that it promotes paternal care by increasing the certainly that a particular male was the father of a female’s offspring. ![]() Why does this happen? Believe it or not, no one really knows for sure. Following ovulation, other hormones cause the swelling to subside and the roughly 35-day menstrual cycle begins again. As they approach ovulation, ovarian hormones induce the skin around their genitals to swell and take on a pink hue, an effect known as tumescence. Upon seeing chimpanzees for the first time, most people are struck by the extensive physical similarities between our two species, but there’s one notable difference that also catches everyone’s attention…Ĭhimpanzees, along with many other primates such as baboons and macaques, advertise their fertility by means of sexual swellings.
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