Chimps are natural-born killers, say scientists
AFP
20 hours ago
Paris (AFP) - Chimpanzees can be lethally violent to each
other but this stems from an inherent streak and not, as some have suggested,
from human interference, a study said on Wednesday.
Zoologists, led by the famed Jane Goodall, have
speculated for years on the causes of "chimpanzee wars" among Man' s genetically-closest relatives.
One theory is that the apes are made more aggressive as a
result of human influence: loss of habitat or food creates ever-greater
competition for resources.
But new research, published in the journal Nature, said
coordinated violence by Pan troglodytes is an evolutionary strategy.
Chimps kill to wipe out rivals, thus gaining territory,
mates, water or food, it suggests. In Darwinian terms, they seek an advantage
to help them survive and hand on their genes to future generations.
The evidence comes from an examination of five decades of
research into 18 closely-studied chimpanzee communities in African forests.
The researchers pored over 152 killings by chimps, most
of which were carried out by males acting together.
The groups would often band together to carry out
murderous raids on another community, typically killing rival males and infants
who were not genetically related.
They sometimes snatched babies from nursing mothers to
slaughter them but spared the females.
The investigators had to determine whether these acts
were driven by hunger, human disturbance or deforestation and whether the
protected area the chimps inhabited was large or small.
Most of the killings occurred in east African communities
that were least affected by human interference of any kind.
"Wild chimpanzee communities are often divided into
two broad categories depending on whether they exist in pristine or
human-disturbed environments," said David Morgan, a specialist in ape
conservation at Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago , Illinois , who has studied chimps in central Africa for 14 years.
"Study sites included in this investigation spanned
the spectrum. We found human impact did not predict the rate of killing among
communities."
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