![]() "I remember an occasion in 1972 when I was following a group of mostly northern chimps towards the south," Pusey told Seeker. Pusey was a doctoral student at Gombe from 1970-1975 and witnessed many of the key events firsthand. Senior author Anne Pusey, also from Duke, has spent the last 25 years archiving and digitizing Goodall's copious hand-written notes and check-sheets. Tensions between Humphrey and his southern rivals Charlie and Hugh may have triggered the only known civil war in wild chimpanzees, researchers say. ![]() "What was unprecedented," he added, "was the division of the community, and given the extirpation of the Kahama community, it makes sense that permanent fissions are pretty rare in chimpanzees." Humphrey was a top-ranking male chimpanzee in Gombe National Park, Tanzania, in the early 1970s and known for his frequent attacks on other chimps. "Although the scale of the violence after the fission may be unusual, inter-community violence and killings are a ubiquitous feature of chimpanzee social behavior, so the post-fission violence is not unique," lead author Joseph Feldblum of Duke University's department of evolutionary anthropology told Seeker. The authors conclude that the power struggle between Humphrey, Charlie, and Hugh, along with an increasing ratio of males to reproductively available females, likely caused the once united community to split - known as a fission - and erupt into violence. Her newly digitized field notes enabled researchers to take a closer look at the seeds of the conflict, which are reported in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology. The "Four-Year War" from 1974–1978, as Goodall later described it, represents the only civil war ever observed in wild chimpanzees. Humans can engage in similar, brutal behavior, but the players in this case were chimpanzees at Gombe National Park, which were studied by renowned primatologist Jane Goodall. At the end of the battle, the southern community, by then known as Kahama, was extirpated. The bloodshed went on for four years, during which seven rebel males died or vanished. Humphrey and other males moved into the rebel territory and savagely beat victims, often taking over their land. Other males watched the aggressive moves. Humphrey, in turn, threw rocks during charging displays. Two brothers who lived to the south of Humphrey, Charlie and Hugh, ganged up on the alpha male and intimidated him. The anticipated simple transition was not to be When he died in October 1970, a large male named Humphrey rose from the beta to the alpha position and was poised to assume a leadership position.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |