Why a chimp 'civil war' shows how societies collapse
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What did Jane Goodall learn about chimpanzees in the 1970s?
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You're listening to Shortwave from NPR. short wavers, Emily Kwong here. Today's story starts with the late and legendary primatologist Jane Goodall. During her fieldwork with chimpanzees in the mid-1970s, she witnessed something that changed her opinion of chimps forever.
I used to think, well, they're very like people, but nicer. And then I realized that when opportunity arises, they have this nasty, brutal side to them, just like we do.
This is an interview Jane did with Terry Gross on Fresh Air back in 1993. And what Jane Goodall is referring to here is a four-year conflict that broke out amongst the chimpanzees she was studying in Tanzania. Chimps that knew each other started killing each other. It was essentially the primate equivalent of a civil war.
You know, when humans fight a war, you always want to know what is the war about? What is the motivation? Who is wronging who? When chimps fight a war, what is it about? Well, this particular war was the only one we've ever seen, and we're not too sure. I think we shan't be very sure until it happens again. Well, now it's happening again.
In the largest known community of chimpanzees in the world, and scientists are documenting it in real time with videos like this.
Yeah. One of the things that's kind of wild about this whole story, Emily, is that like very much like the human wars that are going on in the world right now, there is now cell phone footage of these conflicts happening.
Yeah. NPR science correspondent Nate Rott. Hey there.
Hey, Emily. So you've been talking to some of these researchers watching this unfold. I have.
What triggered the chimpanzee civil war in Uganda?
Yeah. Including the primatologist who took that video. His name is Aaron Sandell. And he originally went to study this group of chimpanzees to try and better understand friendship in primates.
Now my focus has gone from understanding friendship to sort of how do friendships fall apart, how do communities fall apart.
Oh, he sounds so sad. I know. But it's also kind of fascinating to me. Just as a scientist, sometimes you got to go where the research leads.
Totally. I mean, Aaron says he'll probably spend the rest of his career trying to understand this ongoing event because it is super rare. Like, scientists know that some other animals engage in coordinated attacks against each other, like what we might call war, right? That includes ants and lions and wolves. But these kinds of permanent fissions that result in violence, like a group of animals breaking apart forever and fighting each other, is super rare. With chimpanzees, they think this only happens like once every 500 years.
And the researchers have been watching this whole thing happen?
Yeah, from the very start, before it began, and even as it's ongoing right now.
Today on the show, a civil war amongst one of humanity's closest living relatives.
And what it can teach us about how communities fall apart.
I'm Emily Kwong.
And I'm Nate Rott. And you're listening to Shortwave, the science podcast from NPR.
NPR.
All right, Nate, where is this civil war happening?
Yeah, it's happening on the western border of Uganda in this densely forested national park. There are multiple communities of wild chimpanzees that are studied there, but the ones we're going to be focused on are part of what's called the Ngogo group. Researchers have been observing this group for more than 30 years.
That is a long time to be studying the same group of chimps.
It is. And that's part of what makes this so interesting.
How are researchers observing the ongoing conflict among chimpanzees?
Because the primatologists who were working there had decades of observations of these chimpanzees. So they knew who was hanging out with who, who mated with who. They knew the chimps' social bonds. Aaron Sandell, the primatologist we heard from earlier, started working there in 2012.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What did Jane Goodall learn about chimpanzees in the 1970s?
0:00–2:01
2
What triggered the chimpanzee civil war in Uganda?
2:01–3:48
3
How are researchers observing the ongoing conflict among chimpanzees?
3:48–5:52
4
What social dynamics led to the split in the Ngogo chimpanzee group?
5:52–7:52
5
What evidence do researchers have of lethal attacks among the chimpanzees?
7:52–10:08
6
How do chimpanzee wars compare to human conflicts?
10:08–12:33
7
What role do social bonds play in chimpanzee communities?
12:33–13:56
Speakers
7 identifiedMore from Short Wave
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