This was the first documented war between chimpanzees that lasted four years and ended in ‘genocide’
Chimpanzees demonstrated their intelligence by using war strategies to kill the enemy that seemed exclusive to the human intellect.
In 1974, in Tanzania’s Gombe National Park, two communities – Kasakela and Kahama – began a brutal conflict that lasted four years. It didn’t end until 1978, when the Kasakela group killed all rival males, attacked or dispersed the adult females, and absorbed the younger females into their own ranks. At first glance, it might seem like a tale of human warfare. But there’s a twist: the combatants weren’t people. They were chimpanzees.
The so-called ‘Gombe Chimpanzee War’ was the first documented intergroup conflict among animals resembling warfare. Yes, warfare. Both sides used war strategies, weapons, truces, diplomatic meetings, espionage... Something that seemed reserved for the human intellect. And the victors wiped out the rival group in a manner that resembled genocide, by human standards, their enemies who could be described as a separatist group.
Chimpanzee clans are very stable. Males usually remain all their lives in the clan in which they were born and only females can migrate to other communities. Genetic studies of nearly 300 chimpanzees have shown that on average their respective clans emerged more than five and a half centuries ago.
War and post-war
However, two exceptional circumstances occurred in Gombe National Park: the rise of an alpha male with little authority and the decline in the number of females. Two males from the clan led the formation of a new group and settled separately in 1971. For three years relations were more or less cordial and both clans spent time living together. Everything changed in 1974 when seven chimpanzees from the Kasakela clan ambushed an adult from the Kahama clan and beat him mercilessly to death. Four years of ferocity and killing ensued.
After annihilating all their enemies, the survivors of the Kasakela clan suffered something we humans know all too well: in war, everyone loses. They were so weakened that they were attacked by other neighboring clans. They were robbed of most of their territory. They only managed to keep a tiny space thanks to their ingenuity. They trained young chimpanzees to look like adults, to make their patrols more numerous, and to frighten their rivals. In any case, the Kasakela clan has a special warlike nature. It regained its strength over the years and again had documented war conflicts against other clans in 1993 and 2002.
Chimpanzees vs. gorillas in 2019
What happened in Gombe is not the only known war between apes. In 2019, a clan of chimpanzees carried out two raids against a clan of gorillas with which they had hitherto maintained cordial neighborly relations in Loango National Park in Gabon. In the first raid, nearly thirty chimpanzees attacked a gorilla family. They kidnapped a baby gorilla and beat it to death. On the side of the chimpanzees, a female was seriously injured. The second attack occurred ten months later, when it seemed that relations had returned to normal. Once again, about 30 chimpanzees attacked a family of gorillas, used strategies to separate the males from the females and managed to kidnap a calf, which they killed and devoured.
In studies carried out on the basis of these incidents, it has been confirmed that chimpanzees are capable of planning war raids in which they use tactics to maintain the initiative and superiority over their rivals. And they show no mercy... Almost as if they were human.
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