"Inside deadly chimp ‘civil war’ in Uganda—What they reveal about human nature
Since 2018 , researchers have recorded 24 killings, including 17 infants
Deep in the lush canopy of Uganda’s Kibale National Park, a decades-long peace has shattered, giving way to a brutal and vicious 'civil war' that mirrors the darkest chapters of human history.
For over 20 years, the Ngogo chimpanzees, the largest community of wild chimps ever recorded, flourished as a close-knit community.
Now, the researchers have officially documented the first clear yet unsettling struggles of power and survival ongoing among this community. As a result, two warring factions, Western and Central, have emerged, locking in a brutal civil war for 8 years.
What makes the scientist surprised is the intensity and frequency of conflicts. This is no longer a brawl or a simple split; it has turned into a series of coordinated and lethal raids in which one group targeted the other, resulting in deaths of males and infants.
As per researchers, since 2018 they have recorded 24 killings, including 17 infants. But, they are clueless about the reason behind the ongoing chip conflict.
'Biting, pounding the victim with their hands, dragging them, kicking them - mostly adult males, but sometimes adult females participate in the attacks,' said University of Texas primatologist Aaron Sandel, lead author of the study published in the journal Science.
'These were chimps that would hold hands. Now they're trying to kill each other,' Sandel added."
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?
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"
"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
'civil war' among #Ngogo #chimpanzees
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.
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