Animals get stressed too: A new study on bonobos, one of our closest living relatives, reveals that life in the rainforest can be stressful

The results of the research show that adult bonobo males are more stressed when they are close to attractive females (those close to their ovulatory period). Because high ranking males are the ones that are more often in proximity to these females, they exhibit higher levels of stress than low ranking males. Behavioural observation by Martin Surbeck and colleagues from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, indicate that the males feed less if they are close to attractive females and are also at a higher risk of being victims of aggression from other group members.