Bonobos offer insight into evolution of cooperation — Harvard Gazette

It turns out that one of our closest living relatives, bonobos, are also able to think outside the group. The ability to engage in such “out-group” cooperation is the foundation on which humans have created societies and cultures through trade and knowledge-sharing. The study was published in Science with lead author Liran Samuni, a former Harvard research associate who works at the German Primate Center in Göttingen. These certain few consistently engaged in behaviors such as grooming and food-sharing and acted as links between groups — think ape ambassadors. Within each behavior, individuals cooperated with specific counterparts who were also good cooperators in that domain.