In ethology and social science, male bonding is the formation of a close personal relationships, and patterns of friendship or cooperation between males.In the context of human relationships, male bonding is used to describe friendship between men, or the way in which men befriend each other. The expression is sometimes used synonymously with the word camaraderie. The first widely noticed use of the term was in Men in Groups (1969; 2004) by anthropologist Lionel Tiger.Anthropologists at Germany's University of Göttingen found out, by studies on the Barbary macaques (an ape which exhibits humanlike social behaviour) that spending more time with other males relieved their stress levels and reduced stress-related illnesses, and may do so in humans as well.