While I was hiding out from the news for a week or so, this little myth destroyer appeared. One of the ways some have convinced themselves that war is a human aberration is to point at other mammals and especially our closest hominian cousins: they might fight but they don’t organize themselves for it! Well, it seems that some do — and pretty viciously.
A band of males, up to 20 or so, will assemble in single file and move to the edge of their territory. They fall into unusual silence as they penetrate deep into the area controlled by the neighboring group. They tensely scan the treetops and startle at every noise. “It’s quite clear that they are looking for individuals of the other community,” Dr. Mitani says.
When the enemy is encountered, the patrol’s reaction depends on its assessment of the opposing force. If they seem to be outnumbered, members of the patrol will break file and bolt back to home territory. But if a single chimp has wandered into their path, they will attack. Enemy males will be held down, then bitten and battered to death. Females are usually let go, but their babies will be eaten.
[Warning! Chimp on chimp violence shown.]
One study doesn’t make the case completely of course, but ten years of watching, documenting, taking pictures is a very persuasive start. Could be something in this group’s water, or peculiarities in their environment that make them unique, but that’s a “could be.” Not every expert is persuaded but all are interested.
For myself I prefer to think of the “hard wiring” that we may have inherited from our chimpy ancestors as more like “firm ware,” something that can be re-programmed as our knowledge of and agreement about, war, grows in depth and strength. Rationality and empathy are hard wired, too.
