Over the years, we at Giz Asks have explored countless aspects of animal behavior and psychology.
And so on. Today we extend this venerable tradition with a new question, one that is sure to delight anyone who has ever dreamed about a monkey cackling maniacally as he destroys the monkey that killed his father – namely do animals take revenge?
Vladimir Dinets Adjunct Lecturer, Zoology, Kean University, whose research focuses on animal behavior Yes, animals do retaliate.
Macaques do it too, although not directly: if they cannot attack the offender because he is much stronger, they would instead hurt someone weaker, sometimes the attacker’s relative.
Also, there are many documented cases of wounded animals chasing or hindering their hunters in situations where it would obviously be more reasonable for those animals to run away or hide.
In humans, revenge is usually an irrational manifestation of our innate desire for justice, which is also observed in many other primates and has evolved to enable social cooperation.
Some animals that are known to retaliate against hunters are also very social (elephants, for example), but others are not (bears, tigers etc.), so I don’t have a good explanation for their behavior” Macaques do it too, although not directly : if they cannot attack the offender because he is much stronger, they would instead hurt someone weaker, sometimes the relative of the attacker.” Malini Suchak
Associate Professor, Animal Behavior, Ecology and Conservation, Canisius College. Reciprocity can also extend to negative actions, for example, if someone is a bad employee, you may refuse to work with them in the future.
Reciprocity of negative actions is not exactly the same as revenge, which for me has a component of moral justification.
While it seems clear that other species have their own moral codes and systems (for example, capuchins react negatively to unfair situations), the idea of applying revenge to other species bothers me because it assumes that their moral systems are the same like us – they see the same things we do as right or wrong.
I often hear people say things like: “I went on vacation and my cat pissed on my bed in revenge,” which implies that the cat knew it was wrong to pee on the bed, but did it anyway to punish them for leaving.
If that act was viewed as revenge, the person may punish or resent their cat and probably not change things for the next time they go on vacation.
If it is viewed as stressful, they may act to reduce the stress the next time they leave – a win/win for the human and the cat.
I think it can actually be harmful to the way we treat other animals to assume that their actions constitute revenge, when they probably see the situation very differently. “Reciprocity of negative actions is not exactly the same as revenge, which for me has a component of moral justification.
While it seems clear that other species have their own moral codes and systems (for example, capuchins react negatively to unfair situations), the idea of applying revenge to other species bothers me because it assumes that their moral systems are the same like us – they see the same things we do as right or wrong.” Peter Judge Professor of Animal Behavior and Psychology and Director of the Animal Behavior Program at Bucknell University I study non-human primates, specifically a species called pigtail macaques
They live in large social groups, and they have matrilines – an older matriarch will have her children, and her children will have her children.
If one of these families gets into a fight with another family, almost all family members will pitch in and help.
It can be pretty cruel at times.
On a small level, if someone from family A aggresses against someone from family B, then that member of family B is likely to go after someone from family A later—chasing them, biting them, hitting them.
When I studied this, sometimes it would happen later.
Animal A would hit animal B, then animal B would later go after animal A’s child.
This behavior has also been found in other species of macaques – another author studied this in Japanese macaques. “I study non-human primates, specifically a species called pigtail macaques… If one of these families gets into a fight with another family, almost all family members will join in and help.”Stephanie Poindexter
Assistant Professor, Anthropology, SUNY Buffalo, whose research focuses on primate behavioral ecology, among others I study primates, and my answer would be: yes, more or less.
Of course, we cannot know their intent because we cannot ask them what they planned to do or why they did it.
But in studies of primates in captivity, in social groups in zoos, we have seen that if an individual is attacked in some way, the probability that they will attack someone who is related to their aggressor is higher.
(This phenomenon has also been seen in spotted hyenas.) For the most part, these acts of “revenge” take place shortly after the attack – I have not seen anything where a primate spends an extended period of time planning revenge on its enemies .
The nature of living in these hierarchies or groups, where there is one dominant male, is fear.
There will be consequences if you don’t behave in the way that is expected.
There are large monkey groups with one male and multiple females.
In those groups you can see aggressive behavior towards women who stray during a conflict or big fight with another group, those women can be punished because they did not maintain group cohesion – did not move in the right pattern, or behaved in a other way which the dominant male did not like.
The goal, here, is to maintain the group and maintain power. “Obviously, we can’t know what their intention is because we don’t ask them what they planned to do or why they did it.
But in studies of primates in captivity, in social groups in zoos, we have seen that when an individual is attacked in some way, the probability that they will attack someone related to their aggressor is higher.” Do you have a burning question for Giz asks?