Female-Dominated Societies Are Violent, Say Anthropologists

Anthropologists have never directly observed a female-dominated society among humans, but many have speculated that such societies would be less violent than male-dominated ones. Now that postulate has been challenged by hard evidence. Bonobos, a primate species that is female-dominated and bisexual, have been observed repeatedly hunting and killing other apes in the wild. A group of evolutionary anthropologists will publish a paper in Current Biology tomorrow documenting evidence that the supposedly peaceful bonobos are as bloodthirsty as their male-dominated chimp counterparts. More »