Social tolerance in the group was positively associated with resource sustainability, and quartets where the highest-ranked ape acquired the lowest payoff were particularly successful.

Contrary to our expectations, the quartets avoided resource collapse for longer, both in terms of overall latency, and in the difference between the test and the non-social-dilemma control condition.

The chimpanzees encountered a pool of yoghurt that they could dip into with sticks (one stick per player), but, if all of the sticks were removed, a lid would slowly close, eventually making the yoghurt inaccessible. This created a social dilemma where they could not all be eating at the same time.

Chimpanzee groups achieve sustainable resource use in a common-pool resource dilemma Communications Psychology - Groups of two or four chimpanzees encountered a collective resource sustainability problem. Quartets avoided resource collapse for longer than dyads, with group social...

Excited to share this work done with @alex-primate.bsky.social and Daniel Haun @mpi-eva-leipzig.bsky.social (the first publication from my PhD!), where we found that chimpanzees sustained a collective resource for longer in groups of four compared to dyads rdcu.be/e0qPR