导读：群居生活难免发生矛盾，人类近亲黑猩猩同样如此，调解矛盾因而对黑猩猩群体的凝聚力有重要意义。瑞士研究人员发现，黑猩猩群体中有类似警察的角色，充当第三方调解，处理内部矛盾冲突，维持群体稳定。
这种现象早有记载，只是仅被当作奇闻轶事，没有明确证据。在瑞士苏黎世大学人类学家卡雷尔·范斯海克和克洛迪娅·冯罗尔主持下，研究人员发现，黑猩猩群体中确有“警察”维持治安。
研究人员观察并对比四群受控黑猩猩的行为，在戈绍的瓦尔特动物园发现特殊情况。美国科学促进会主办的EurekAlert网站援引冯罗尔的话报道：“我们幸运地观察到，一个黑猩猩群体发生变化，新加入数只雌性黑猩猩，雄性黑猩猩的等级地位重新划定，群体稳定性产生动摇。这在野生黑猩猩群体中也会发生。”
他们发现，当黑猩猩群体中多名成员卷入纷争，仲裁者公平干涉的意愿最为强烈。或许因为这类纷争更可能危害群体稳定。
研究人员在最新一期美国《科学公共图书馆综合卷》发表论文，认定黑猩猩调解群体成员之间的矛盾冲突并非出于自身直接利益，而是要维持群体安宁和稳定。
与人类一样，黑猩猩中有权力架构。研究人员发现，并非每只黑猩猩都能胜任仲裁职责，主要由地位高的雄性或雌性黑猩猩或者在群体中广受尊敬的黑猩猩担当，否则仲裁者无法化解矛盾。
研究人员认为，黑猩猩“警察”调解群体内部矛盾可以视为道德在进化过程中的早期形式。
冯罗尔说：“对社会的关心在我们人类社会高度发展，构成道德的基础。这种兴趣根深蒂固，在我们的近亲身上也能发现。”
先前研究显示，哺乳动物可能像人类一样以道德规范约束自身行为。
美国科罗拉多大学教授、生态学家马克·贝科夫在著作《荒野正义》中举例说，黑猩猩有正义感，会一起惩罚违反规则的同伴，给予残疾同伴特殊照顾。
英国牛津大学研究人员观察发现，大象不仅会陪伴、照料受伤或生病的同伴，还会对其他动物显现同情。南非一头大象2003年松开铁门闩，打开羊圈入口，帮助羚羊逃跑。
一些研究人员对动物多大程度上有复杂情感和社会责任感持怀疑态度，但承认难以认定动物完全没有人类的道德品质。
Impartial Third-Party Interventions in Captive Chimpanzees: A Reflection of Community Concern
Claudia Rudolf von Rohr, Sonja E. Koski, Judith M. Burkart, Clare Caws, Orlaith N. Fraser, Angela Ziltener, Carel P. van Schaik
Because conflicts among social group members are inevitable, their management is crucial for group stability. The rarest and most interesting form of conflict management is policing, i.e., impartial interventions by bystanders, which is of considerable interest due to its potentially moral nature. Here, we provide descriptive and quantitative data on policing in captive chimpanzees. First, we report on a high rate of policing in one captive group characterized by recently introduced females and a rank reversal between two males. We explored the influence of various factors on the occurrence of policing. The results show that only the alpha and beta males acted as arbitrators using manifold tactics to control conflicts, and that their interventions strongly depended on conflict complexity. Secondly, we compared the policing patterns in three other captive chimpanzee groups. We found that although rare, policing was more prevalent at times of increased social instability, both high-ranking males and females performed policing, and conflicts of all sex-dyad combinations were policed. These results suggest that the primary function of policing is to increase group stability. It may thus reflect prosocial behaviour based upon “community concern.” However, policing remains a rare behaviour and more data are needed to test the generality of this hypothesis.
文献链接：https://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0032494
