The similarities to human wars isn’t random. Chimpanzees war for pretty much the same reasons as humans do. They are no noble savages and nor are we.
Chimpanzees in Uganda
By USAID Africa Bureau (Chimpanzees in UgandaUploaded by Elitre) Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Whenever a new king got to the throne it was expected that peace will ensue. But whenever there was more than one contender for the throne it went quite differently. Their ambition lead to a break up of the group and years of brutal fights. Raid and ambushes became a part of life and nobody knew when they if they are going to live the next day.
This story did really happen. Just now to humans. It is known as the Four Year War in Gombe and was enacted by Chimpanzees in the Gombe national park. So far it is the only completely recorded war between chimpanzees that took place between 1974 and 1978. At the time people mostly thought that chimpanzees are cute circus monkeys that leave peacefully in the forest. Thus, everybody was shocked about their war, including the lead scientists Jane Goodall. Her descriptions sound like brutal war stories from human history.
As it is often the case with things that contradict what we believe, people first didn’t want to believe it. Many thought the war happened only because of the feeding station Goodall created in the forest. But now a scientific team led by Joseph Feldblum from the Duke University digitized Goodall notes and analyzed them. With this, they created a detailed map of social relations and alliances between the Chimpanzees when they still lived at peace. Then they looked at the changes that took place before and during the conflict.
Violent chimpanzee attack - Planet Earth - BBC wildlife
Source: BBC Studios
The results show that the conflict was brewing for years. At the end of the sixties, the male Chimpanzees were happy in Gombe. But in 1971 disputes started to appear. The South and North males were spending less and less time together and their interactions were becoming more and more aggressive. This was two years before the war began.
Scientists now think the critical moment was when the Humphrey – a male from the North – became the alfa male of the group and two males from the South – Charlie and Hugh – didn’t like it. The result was a for year conflict full of violence, abductions, and death. Humphrey with the North group over time killed, often brutally, all the South males, conquered their lands and got their three females. Everything seems to indicate that it was the lack of sexually mature females was the main reason for the war.
Comparing humans to animals can often be quite tricky. But Chimpanzees are our closets relatives so we can mostly compare without any fear of making large mistakes. And it seems that chimpanzees war because of power mongering, excessive ambitions and jealousy. How familiar does that sound to you?
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