Reply #21: They are not the only ones! [View All]

[one-eyed fat man]

Is Murder a uniquely human activity?

Until a decade or two ago, it appeared that other animals -- including monkeys -- did not kill members of their own species, whereas humans did. But as field studies in animal behavior have become more thorough, the myth of the peaceful primate -- or non-murderous animal generally -- has largely been dispelled. Orangutans rape, for instance, and chimpanzees murder. Wolves also kill others of their own kind, as do lions, elk, and bison. In fact, nearly every animal species that has been carefully studied sooner or later reveals its penchant for lethal violence.

Field studies in Tanzania illustrate how some chimps occasionally murder other chimps for no apparent survival-related reason. Premeditated, gangland-style attacks were directed by a large group of male chimps on a smaller group of males and females that had previously broken away from the larger group. Over the course of five years, each member of the splinter group was systematically and brutally beaten. All died. Only young males initiated the attacks, which occurred only when the victims were isolated from the others. Hands, feet, and teeth were often used by the attackers, though sometimes field-workers noticed stones being deliberately thrown. The hope, of course, is that comparative studies like these will uncover the reasons behind not only chimp misdemeanors but human belligerence as well, perhaps helping to guide the future survival of the human species, which, it would seem, can no longer tolerate intraspecies aggression.

Then the newly triumphant members of the younger generation execute an atrocity. They wade into the screaming females, grabbing babies left and right. They swing the infants against the trees, smash them against the ground, bite their heads and crush their skulls. They kill and kill. When the orgy of bloodlust is over, not an infant remains. Yet the females in their sexual prime are completely unhurt.

Do primates murder or are researchers being anthopomorphic?