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Monkey See, Monkey Do
Lessons for the Hominidae Family
Many people think that warfare is a relatively recent invention of mankind, triggered by the origin of agriculture, or the development of urban communities.
Not so. According to the 50+ years of observations made by Jane Goodall in the wilds of Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo, she saw that chimpanzees--Mankind’s closest relatives — are highly aggressive and had organized warfare.
And in a massive study in Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Senegal, a team of 30 scientists spent 30 years in observing murders and warfare by chimpanzees and bonobos. Published in the September 17, 2014 issue of Nature, the lead scientist, University of Minnesota anthropologist Dr. Michael Wilson, confirmed that the chimpanzees’ aggressive behavior was not learned from humans. It was inherent in their nature, and was based on what he called “fitness impacts,” i.e., increased territory and/or access to females.
Warfare among chimpanzees was found to occur much more often among groups of many males and few females. The high levels of testosterone in those groups increased their aggressive tendencies and agitation to the point where they became “warriors.” Conversely, when the numbers of females were higher, the groups tended to be more peaceful.
