Chimpanzee Civil War Observed in Uganda
Wild chimpanzees in Uganda have been observed engaging in coordinated attacks, leading to a civil war between two groups: the western and central chimps. This conflict, documented over seven years, resulted in the deaths of at least 24 individuals, including 7 adult males and 17 infants. Researchers, including Sylvain Lemoine from the University of Cambridge, highlight the significance of social ties in group cohesion. This case marks the first detailed account of civil warfare in chimpanzees, echoing historical observations by Jane Goodall in Tanzania.
Coverage
- First reported: @CIG_telegram
- Most detailed: @CIG_telegram
- Total sources: 1
- Created: 2026-04-10 03:10:37 CEST
- Updated: 2026-04-10 03:10:45 CEST
Timeline
- @CIG_telegram · 1 messages 📷 2026-04-10T01:09:40+00:00
Media
Source Messages
🇺🇬 🐵 📖 Wild chimpanzees recorded waging ‘civil war’ with coordinated attacks between two groups
The researchers drew on more than three decades of behavioural observations of the well-studied group of chimpanzees to determine the permanent split in the largest known group of wild chimpanzees in the world. While the chimps had been socially cohesive from at least 1995 until 2015, something shifted in the group’s dynamics, and by 2018 two distinct groups had emerged – the western chimps and the central chimps.
With the two groups solidified, members of the western group made 24 sustained and coordinated attacks on the central one in the seven years that followed, killing at least seven adult males and 17 infants.
Scientists think that a similar rupture and civil war may have occurred in the 1970s within the chimpanzee group in Gombe, Tanzania, observed by the renowned primatologist Jane Goodall. But, at the time, our basic understanding of chimpanzee behaviour was too limited to fully appreciate the rarity of in-group violence.
Sylvain Lemoine, a professor in biological anthropology at the University of Cambridge, said: “Here we have the first thoroughly reported case of what can be qualified as civil warfare in the species … It shows that, even in absence of cultural group markers, social ties and network connectivity are the cement of group cohesion, and that these ties can be fragilised in specific circumstances, especially when they rely on few key individuals.”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/apr/09/civil-war-chimpanzee-group-closer-to-human-condition-aoe
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The researchers drew on more than three decades of behavioural observations of the well-studied group of chimpanzees to determine the permanent split in the largest known group of wild chimpanzees in the world. While the chimps had been socially cohesive from at least 1995 until 2015, something shifted in the group’s dynamics, and by 2018 two distinct groups had emerged – the western chimps and the central chimps.
With the two groups solidified, members of the western group made 24 sustained and coordinated attacks on the central one in the seven years that followed, killing at least seven adult males and 17 infants.
Scientists think that a similar rupture and civil war may have occurred in the 1970s within the chimpanzee group in Gombe, Tanzania, observed by the renowned primatologist Jane Goodall. But, at the time, our basic understanding of chimpanzee behaviour was too limited to fully appreciate the rarity of in-group violence.
Sylvain Lemoine, a professor in biological anthropology at the University of Cambridge, said: “Here we have the first thoroughly reported case of what can be qualified as civil warfare in the species … It shows that, even in absence of cultural group markers, social ties and network connectivity are the cement of group cohesion, and that these ties can be fragilised in specific circumstances, especially when they rely on few key individuals.”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/apr/09/civil-war-chimpanzee-group-closer-to-human-condition-aoe