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The Ngogo chimpanzee war
The Western and Central factions of chimpanzees have been engaged in a violent conflict in the Ngogo hill region of Kibale National Park, Uganda, since 2015. The conflict involves one-sided killing and violence of the Western group against the Central group. Due to the Ngogo chimpanzees formerly constituting a single peaceful community that violently split apart, this conflict has been described as a "civil war".
I am going to start posting Wikipedia articles as FPP's. The main reason is because today, with the enshittified online environment, Wikipedia is indeed "The best of the world" (Always had been, of course, but now one of the last good ones). Also, to echo one of reddit's best communities, Today I Learned, where Wikipedia is one of the main sources of info.
posted by growabrain on Apr 14, 2026 at 10:13 PM
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Q. How do we know?
A. Because anthropologists were there to record it.
One of the criticisms of Jane Goodall's science was that her very presence altered the local reality and left her studying something a long way from natural chimpanzees in virgin jungle. She has acknowledged that, by feeding the chimps in order to keep them within observation range, she may have unwittingly increased the levels of aggression within and between troops – when you have a rich resource it's worth fighting over [my MetaPrev from Oct 2025]
Here's a recent BBC link Chimpanzees in Uganda locked in vicious 'civil war', say researchers in case Wikipedia is deemed secondary source inappropriate for FPP.
posted by BobTheScientist at 11:48 PM
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'War' doesn't seem like quite the right word?
posted by kickingtheground at 11:53 PM
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caesar would call it a guerilla warfare.
posted by clavdivs at 12:02 AM
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The numerically inferior western faction used raids to attack other males, ambushed isolated chimpanzees and went after the young. The western faction population is now growing.
The conflict arouse after the deaths of elders so to say and a new alpha male arose.
Its tactical and strategic.
posted by clavdivs at 12:14 AM
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i blame the cia
posted by flabdablet at 2:48 AM
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Of the links on that Wikipedia article, this one is quite good What Plunged These Chimps Into a Civil War on sciene.org
Some quotes from that:
One contributing factor, says co-author John Mitani, a primatologist at the University of Michigan who helped establish the Ngogo research site, is that "the Ngogo chimps were victims of their own success. The group continued to grow and grow and grow, and it reached the size that individuals couldn't pull together anymore."
The social bonds between the males may also have frayed as the community lost some of its critical peace brokers: In 2014, five adult male chimps died within about 1 month of one another, possibly from disease. "Some of those adult males were important connectors," Sandel says.
and
Primatologist Catherine Crockford, who co-directs the Taï Chimpanzeee Project with Wittig, cautions that the "impressive and insightful study" at Ngogo does not rule out the possibility that cultural differences increased tensions between the groups. Even in the absence of language, chimpanzees have distinctive ways to communicate, which Crockford studies. As she has shown, groups of chimps can learn specific pant hoots that can reinforce bonds, and she wonders whether shared vocalizations might have gradually "fed increasing hostilities."
and
The lessons for human conflict only go so far. Wrangham notes that unlike humans, chimps do not seem to commit revenge killings, likely because they don't have language. "In humans, the first thing that happens when a member of your community, your band, your village, gets killed, everybody gets together and says, 'OK, well, what are we going to do about it?'" Wrangham says. "You don't have revenge killings in chimps, because in order to be able to conduct revenge, you need to discuss a plan."
Mitani says the study ultimately helps explain chimp behavior more than our own. "One of the unusual things about us as humans is that we're an incredibly pro-social and cooperative species," he says. "Instead of attacking our neighbors, we go out of their way to help them, even if they are complete strangers. That's the lesson I learned from all this. I try to be optimistic, especially in these times as the world becomes increasingly polarized."
posted by Zumbador at 3:46 AM
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i blame the cia
posted by flabdablet
Chimp Is Angry?
posted by lalochezia at 4:56 AM
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"civil war"
I hear some are objecting to this term, and prefer to call it the "war between the apes."
posted by greatgefilte at 5:08 AM
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The group continued to grow and grow and grow, and it reached the size that individuals couldn't pull together anymore."
Writer David Milch is fond of saying that one thing that separates man from the apes is man's ability to use symbols. Ape societies are limited by the ability to actually see the leader. Once it grows beyond that ability -- sheer numbers forcing a wider geographical spread -- things start to break down. Humans handle this by using a symbol, for example gold. Or a crucifix.
posted by dobbs at 6:11 AM
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The Western coalition accused the Centrals of the whole Bubbles situation. Conflict was inevitable.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 1:18 PM
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Send in bonzo
posted by clavdivs at 2:00 PM
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