Chimpanzees and humans have the dubious honor of being among the few species whose members organize to carry out coordinated attacks against their fellow human beings. Since primatologist Jane Goodall revealed in the 1970s that, like us, these hominids were capable of ambushing and massacring members of rival clans, numerous zoologists have speculated about the origin of this behavior. For some, it is an adaptive strategy : the victors would have more food and sexual partners. Other experts, on the contrary, have been proposing that the battles between chimpanzees are a consequence of our impact on these animals, with all that this entails, from the destruction of their habitats to less access to their food sources.
Now, a new study by a team of researchers coordinated by University of Minnesota anthropologist Michael L. Wilson argues that humans do not influence much. So to speak, these primates, like us, are inherently violent . In their essay, published in the journal Nature , these scientists analyze data collected over almost five decades in 18 chimpanzee communities. In the 152 lethal attacks recorded in them, the vast majority of attackers and victims were males, and in almost all cases the experts were able to establish that it was a totally adaptive behavior in which the greater or lesser contact they had with did not intervene. our species.
These researchers emphasize that the human factor does not explain the aggressiveness and deaths that occur in chimpanzee communities , something that the authorities must also take into account to guarantee their conservation and reduce risks in areas where they share the environment. with the people.
