re: Two hundred chimpanzees in Uganda are embroiled in a ‘civil war’

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How do chimps kill each other?

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Monkey killing monkey killing monkey
Over pieces of the ground.
Silly monkeys give them thumbs,
They forge a blade,
And where there's one
They're bound to divide it,
Right in two.
Right in two.

Monkey killing monkey killing monkey.
Over pieces of the ground.
Silly monkeys give them thumbs.
They make a club.
And beat their brother, down.
How they survive so misguided is a mystery.

Repugnant is a creature
who would squander the ability
to lift an eye to heaven
conscious of its fleeting time here.

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And Mitani is “rarely surprised by what they do,” Sandel adds.

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so at least some of them also may have been victims of Western chimpanzee aggression.

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A man-made construct, chimpanzees don’t care what we call a specific patch of ground

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The clusters began to separate geographically and socially. By 2017, the two groups occupied entirely distinct territories and patrolled their borders against outsiders. The following year, deadly violence ensued.

Between 2018 and 2024, the researchers witnessed Western adults kill seven males and 17 infants from the Central group, the paper reports. An additional 14 adolescent or adult Central males disappeared during that time, and their bodies were never recovered—these males hadn’t shown signs of illness, so at least some of them also may have been victims of Western chimpanzee aggression. Sandel’s team has documented at least two more attacks on Central males since the data analysis for this study ended in 2024.

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