Chimpanzees in Uganda locked in vicious 'civil war', say researchers

A once-unified chimpanzee community in Uganda has fractured into two rival factions, engaging in a violent eight-year conflict that mirrors human warfare. | Contesto: cronaca

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• Chimpanzees in Uganda locked in vicious 'civil war', say researchers

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In the dense forests of Kibale National Park, Uganda, the renowned Ngogo chimpanzee community is locked in a protracted and violent internal conflict, now entering its eighth year. Researchers observing the group report a state of what they describe as a 'civil war,' where former allies and family members have split into two distinct, hostile factions that engage in lethal territorial raids and brutal killings. This sustained intra-group violence represents one of the longest and most severe conflicts ever documented among wild chimpanzees. The Ngogo community was, for decades, celebrated by primatologists as one of the largest and most cohesive chimpanzee societies ever studied. Its members, numbering over 200 at their peak, exhibited strong social bonds and cooperative behaviors. The current schism, which began subtly with social tensions and occasional skirmishes, has hardened into a clear geographic and social divide. The community has effectively split into a central group and a splinter faction that has claimed territory on the northwestern periphery of the Ngogo range. What began as political maneuvering and social friction has escalated into a pattern of targeted, lethal aggression. The conflict's hallmarks are chillingly methodical. Patrols of males from the larger central group deliberately venture into the territory now occupied by the separatists. Encounters are not random clashes but calculated attacks. Researchers have documented multiple instances where patrols have isolated and killed males from the rival faction, with attacks often involving overwhelming force by several assailants against a single victim. The violence is not limited to direct combat; it instills a climate of fear, altering the daily movement and foraging patterns of both groups as they seek to avoid ambush. This prolonged strife at Ngogo provides unprecedented real-world evidence for theories about the evolutionary roots of human warfare. For years, debates have centered on whether lethal inter-group aggression is a uniquely human trait or a shared legacy with our closest living relatives. The Ngogo conflict demonstrates that chimpanzees are capable of sustained, coalitionary...

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Categoria: cronaca