US EditionFirst evidence of mother-offspring attachment types in wild chimpanzees
- Researchers from the Ape Social Mind Lab at University of Lyon observed wild chimpanzees in Taï National Park, Côte d'Ivoire, over nearly 4,000 hours to study mother-offspring attachment types.
- The study aimed to identify how young chimpanzees form attachment bonds with their mothers, responding to questions about evolutionary roots and environmental impacts on attachment behaviors.
- The team found only organized attachment styles—secure or insecure-avoidant—in wild chimps, with no evidence of disorganized attachment, which contrasts with 23.5% prevalence in human children and 61% in captive orphan chimps.
- Lead author Eléonore Rolland noted that in wild chimpanzees, there was an absence of disorganized attachment behaviors, suggesting that such attachment styles might not be beneficial for survival under natural environmental pressures.
- These results deepen understanding of chimpanzee social development, suggest shared evolutionary attachment strategies with humans, and raise questions about the influence of modern human caregiving practices.
15 Articles
15 Articles
Evidence of organized but not disorganized attachment in wild Western chimpanzee offspring (Pan troglodytes verus)
Human attachment theory outlines three organized types: secure, insecure avoidant and insecure resistant, all considered adaptive responses to maternal care for offspring survival. In contrast, disorganized attachment is hypothesized to be maladaptive and therefore uncommon in wild mammals, though this remains untested. We assessed attachment types in 50 wild chimpanzees (ages 0–10 years) in Taï National Park, Côte d’Ivoire. Using 3,795 h of mot…
Evidence of mother-offspring attachment types in wild chimpanzees
A team of researchers has identified distinct mother-offspring attachment types in wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus). Drawing parallels with human psychology, the study provides compelling evidence that wild chimpanzee infants, like human children, develop critical secure and insecure-avoidant attachment patterns to their mothers. However, unlike humans and some captive chimpanzees, wild chimpanzees did not exhibit disorganized attachment…
Similar to human children, young chimpanzees develop different types of ties to their mothers. There are differences between free-living monkeys and their counterparts in human care, as reported by the German Max Planck Society. Thus, free-living chimpanzees have no so-called disorganized bonds, the researchers said. These are associated with emotional and psychological problems. In young chimpanzees, who live as orphans in human care, 61 percen…
Popular Science
WDC TV NewsWild chimp babies bond with their moms in human-like ways
Chimpanzees are our closest primate relatives, sharing 99 percent of our DNA. We can both keep a beat, may perform a task differently if others are watching, and have chaotic conversations. Infant and mother bonds also appear to share some similarities. Like human children, chimpanzees develop different attachment styles with their mothers, according to a study published May 12 in the journal Nature Human Behaviour. Theories of attachment In hum…
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