Murder 'comes naturally' to chimpanzees

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A major study suggests that killing among chimpanzees results from normal competition, not human interference.
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Apart from humans, chimpanzees are the only primates known to gang up on their neighbours with lethal results - but primatologists have long disagreed about the underlying reasons.
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One proposal was that human activity, including destroying habitats and providing food, increased aggression.
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bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-29237276
 
Sure, blame the humans. :rolleyes:

Actually, I’m not surprised at this study. Wild animals are more aggressive than some persons seem to think.
 
SuperLuigi said:
Sure, blame the humans. :rolleyes:

Actually, I’m not surprised at this study. Wild animals are more aggressive than some persons seem to think.
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I always find it funny when people are surprised that animals don’t act humanely. I guess they forget the root word of HUMANely.

I guess if you delude yourself into thinking that humans are nothing more than super-evolved animals, you’re surprised by things like this.
 
It is time we brought these murderous chimps to justice. They should serve their time in our jails and go through our court systems like anyone else who’s been accused and convicted of criminal activity.
 
Srsly though, there used to be a show on TV called Fatal Instinct or something like that…where people who kept exotic pets were harmed or killed by their beloved pets.
There was a story about a chimp who snapped. It was really sad, and truly out of the blue. The owners were devastated, and bewildered.
:confused:
Seems like the chimp was being a chimp.
 
There was a documentary out a couple years ago, that followed a…pack…group…whatever they’re called…of chimps.

I have a lifelong interest in the natural world, animals, birds, plants, etc., so I’ve seen and read a lot about these things. What blew my mind was how human-like the chimps acted. Particularly when the one group staged an attack on a rival group. It wasn’t like they ran into each other and started fighting. The attacking group had to move quite a long distance to get to the rival’s territory, had to cooperate with one another…it was creepy because it really seemed like the chimps were “thinking” and planning the way humans do.
 
on_the_hill said:
There was a documentary out a couple years ago, that followed a…pack…group…whatever they’re called…of chimps.

I have a lifelong interest in the natural world, animals, birds, plants, etc., so I’ve seen and read a lot about these things. What blew my mind was how human-like the chimps acted. Particularly when the one group staged an attack on a rival group. It wasn’t like they ran into each other and started fighting. The attacking group had to move quite a long distance to get to the rival’s territory, had to cooperate with one another…it was creepy because it really seemed like the chimps were “thinking” and planning the way humans do.
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Wolves and ants do the very same thing. So do prides of lions and various kinds of wild dogs. It’s not peculiar to chimpanzees.
 
Hobbes42 said:
Brutish things, quite strong.
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I’m hearing an English accent. “There was that time we were on expedition, tracing the source of the Zambezi. One of the porters lost footing and fell into a ravine, poor sod. We lost sight of him almost immediately. From the look of it when we made our way back, he’d survived several days down there before those blasted chimps got him. Unfortunately the fellow had the temerity to use my prized monkey claw backscrstcher to defend himself. I never did have a chance to replace it. The trip back to Johannesbug was pure misery, pure misery. The mosquitos there are the devil’s own!”
 
I think there was a Disney movie in the last couple years that was following a chimp tribe and was focussing on one baby chimp. That tribe was attacked by a rival group of chimps and the mother was killed and the baby left behind. He would have died but an older male chimp adopted him. The film crew never saw anything like it and didn’t expect a male chipm to do that.
 
Stylteralmaldo said:
Is a chimpanzee capable of murder?
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I would say that humans are the only species capable of pre-meditated murder.
zz912 said:
I guess if you delude yourself into thinking that humans are nothing more than super-evolved animals, you’re surprised by things like this.
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There’s nothing delusional about it. From an evolutionary point of view, it wasn’t that long ago that the solution to all of our problems was to club each other to death. Our sense of right and wrong has evolved as we have and despite that these primal violent urges still surface.
 
on_the_hill said:
I’m hearing an English accent. “There was that time we were on expedition, tracing the source of the Zambezi. One of the porters lost footing and fell into a ravine, poor sod. We lost sight of him almost immediately. From the look of it when we made our way back, he’d survived several days down there before those blasted chimps got him. Unfortunately the fellow had the temerity to use my prized monkey claw backscrstcher to defend himself. I never did have a chance to replace it. The trip back to Johannesbug was pure misery, pure misery. The mosquitos there are the devil’s own!”
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:rotfl:
 
robwar said:
I think there was a Disney movie in the last couple years that was following a chimp tribe and was focussing on one baby chimp. That tribe was attacked by a rival group of chimps and the mother was killed and the baby left behind. He would have died but an older male chimp adopted him. The film crew never saw anything like it and didn’t expect a male chipm to do that.
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Yes, that’s the movie I saw. Astonishing how much they are like humans.
 
Every actor that played Tarzan told horror stories about the chimps. Former football player Mike Henry fared the worst when the chimp took a chunk out his chin. The scar is still visible in the Smokey and the Bandit movies he did.
 
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