A propos of nothing, this is such an interesting #scientific study about how #chimpanzees who have otherwise known each other and collaborated all their lives can turn against each other in a #civilwar scenario once social ties between groups start to break down.

This group saw rapid losses due to a pandemic and a change in leadership-- and between 2015-2017 the conditions were set for two rival groups to emerge and begin killing each other.

How fascinating to read the authors' conclusions how it isn't culture or religion or other kinds of differences that spark violent episodes, but social fragmentation first, from which other forms of association and de-personalization follow.

Good thing we have technologies that ensure we are brought together around shared principles and that do not seek to divide us from each other, no?

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adz4944

Chimpanzees in Uganda locked in vicious 'civil war', say researchers

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cr71lkzv49po

#HackerNews #Chimpanzees #Uganda #civil #war #wildlife #research #primates

Probably they are influenced by their Human cousins. /s Although they are much less lethal.

The Guardian: *Wild chimpanzees recorded waging ‘civil war’ with coordinated attacks between two groups*

"New study describes what may be the first case of a unified community of chimps, in Uganda, turning on itself"

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/apr/09/civil-war-chimpanzee-group-closer-to-human-condition-aoe

"On a June day in 2015, primatologist Aaron Sandel was quietly observing a small cluster of the Ngogo chimpanzee group in Uganda’s Kibale national park when he noticed something strange. As other members of the chimpanzees’ wider group moved closer through the forest, the chimpanzees in front of him began to display nervous behaviour. They grimaced and touched each other for reassurance, acting more like they were about to meet strangers than close companions.

In hindsight, Sandel said, that moment was the first sign of what would become a years-long bloody conflict between a once close-knit group of chimps. …"

More info on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ngogo_Chimpanzee_War

#Chimps #Chimpanzees #Ugunda #CivilWar

'civil war' among #Ngogo #chimpanzees

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aeg6719?

Super interesting analysis of how a population of #Chimpanzees gradually decomposes into two distinct social groups that eventually wage #CivilWar against each other.

Isolation, polarization, border patrols and lethal aggression emerge along the way. All feels eerily similar to us #humans.

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adz4944

#Science #Animals #Society #Sociology

Oh lovely, apparently committing #genocide against your neighbors is something we inherited from our primate ancestors.
https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/chimpanzee-study-infighting-violent-attacks-rcna267179

#Chimpanzees #Primates

"The world’s largest-known group of chimpanzees recently burst into a lethal conflict. Much like in a civil war, the group fractured into two. Then one faction began killing their former group mates on the other side... It’s an exceedingly rare event: scientists estimate that chimpanzee communities split, on average, every 500 years."

#Chimpanzees #TribalWar

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/two-hundred-chimpanzees-are-embroiled-in-a-civil-war/