The question that is unanswered is whether or not the chimpanzees were mimicking human behavior. Or if their violent tendencies are genetic in nature.
Gombe Chimpanzee War
11–20 of 43 posts
Re: Gombe Chimpanzee War
#12Earlier quoted context omitted.
Then you don't understand chimp culture. Chimps do seriously "go to war" against other tribes. You have to remember that humans killing humans for the sake of "I just don't like you or your friends" is not the norm in the animal kingdom. So yes, it really is a "chimp war", despite their relatively small numbers.
I'm pretty sure they're objecting specifically to the "relatively small numbers" part; I probably wouldn't call a conflict involving only 14 humans a "war" either, culture or no culture.
Maybe a "feud" a la the Hatfield & McCoy?
Re: Gombe Chimpanzee War
#13The question that is unanswered is whether or not the chimpanzees were mimicking human behavior. Or if their violent tendencies are genetic in nature.
Bullshit. These chimps have never seen humans killing each other.
Re: Gombe Chimpanzee War
#14The question that is unanswered is whether or not the chimpanzees were mimicking human behavior. Or if their violent tendencies are genetic in nature.
Or are humans mimicking chimpanzee behavior?
In actuality, this and many other behaviors we share with chimps were most likely present in our last common ancestor. Tool use and complex social hierarchies are other shared behaviors. The split was some 7 million years ago, if memory serves.
Re: Gombe Chimpanzee War
#15Considering that Chimps have reached stone age, it will be interesting to see if Chimps use any weaponns if such a war happens again.
http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150818-chimps-living-in-the...
Re: Gombe Chimpanzee War
#16Considering that Chimps have reached stone age, it will be interesting to see if Chimps use any weaponns if such a war happens again. http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150818-chimps-living-in-the...
They're smashing heavy rocks against nuts... Surely there's a huge difference between carving a weapon and finding a rock large enough to smash open a nut.
Re: Gombe Chimpanzee War
#17Along the same lines (but with a different species) the story of the Mapoogo lion coalition is fascinating https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mapogo_lion_coalition It has been made into a fascinating documentary: Brothers in Blood: The Lions of Sabi Sand https://www.amazon.com/Brothers-Blood-Lions-Sabi-Sand/dp/B07... (you can also find the video online for free if you search for it)
I would hardly describe a conflict involving a total of 6 adult male lions a "war".
Re: Gombe Chimpanzee War
#18Re: Gombe Chimpanzee War
#19Chimp and humans have similar levels of outgroup violence, but human ingroup violence is much lower. In wild chimpanzee groups violence or threats of violence are daily occurrence Young chimp males start to beat weakest females daily when they grow enough.
Re: Gombe Chimpanzee War
#20A 2018 study published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology concluded that the Gombe War was most likely a consequence of a power struggle between three high-ranking males, which was exacerbated by an unusual scarcity of fertile females.
Ref: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ajpa.23462