Skip to main contentSkip to navigation Close dialogue1/2 Next image Previous image Toggle captionSkip to navigation A male western Ngogo chimpanzee attacking a chimpanzee from another group in 2019. The two groups were once unified. Photograph: Aaron Sandel/Science View image in fullscreen A male western Ngogo chimpanzee attacking a chimpanzee from another group in 2019. The two groups were once unified. Photograph: Aaron Sandel/Science Wild chimpanzees recorded waging ‘civil war’ with coordinated attacks between two groupsNew study describes what may be the first case of a unified community of chimps, in Uganda, turning on itself On a June day in 2015, primatologist Aaron Sandel was quietly observing a small cluster of the Ngogo chimpanzee group in Uganda’s Kibale national park when he noticed something strange. As other members of the chimpanzees’ wider group moved closer through the forest, the chimpanzees in front of him began to display nervous behaviour. They grimaced and touched each other for reassurance, acting more like they were about to meet strangers than close companions.In hindsight, Sandel said, that moment was the first sign of what would become a years-long bloody conflict between a once close-knit group of chimps.In a new study published this week in the journal Science, Sandel and his colleagues document what may be the first observed “civil war” in wild chimpanzees. While…
Published: April 9, 2026 6:01 pm
Source: The Guardian — Read original