At least 28 chimpanzees including 19 infants have been killed since, according to the first research paper
For years, two sets of chimpanzees lived as one in Uganda’s Kibale National Park — grooming, interacting and patrolling their territory in a cohesive community.
Then suddenly, one set charged the other, touching off yearslong bloodshed that researchers are comparing to a human civil war.
At least 28 chimpanzees — including 19 infants — have been killed since, according to the first research paper describing the events.
The attacks are vicious. Western chimps have ripped infants from their Central mothers’ chests and battered them to death. When attacking adult or adolescent males, an author said the chimpanzees use collective violence.
“Civil war is troubling to people. How can you turn on your neighbor? And I think by looking at this study in chimps, it sort of strips away a lot of aspects of human war, and we can see just how group identities can shift and lethal aggression can arise,” a researcher said.
