![]() “The two silverbacks of the two groups and the adult females defended themselves and their offspring,” the researchers said. The chimps found the gorillas at the start of a territory border patrol, Science Alert said. This time there were seven gorillas: one silverback, three adult females, one juvenile and two infants. The second fight, in December, involved 27 chimpanzees, some of them involved in the first incident. The chimps came upon the gorillas while returning from an excursion into neighbouring territories. ![]() The conflict in February involved 18 chimpanzees and five gorillas – one silverback, three adult females and one infant, according to Science Alert. In the two encounters, the chimps formed coalitions to attack the gorillas. “But then, we heard chest beating, and realised that the chimpanzees had encountered a group of gorillas.” “At first, we heard screams of chimpanzees and thought we were observing a typical encounter between individuals of neighbouring chimpanzee communities,” said Lara Southern, first author of the study, in a statement. Our colleagues from Congo even witnessed playful interactions between the two great ape species.”īut on two 2019 research trips the team observed wildly different behaviour. “We have regularly observed both species interacting peacefully while foraging. “Interactions between chimpanzees and gorillas have always been considered as relatively relaxed,” said study co-author Simone Pika, in a statement. They band in aggressive groups to hunt down others often in bloody, brutal and fatal conflict.īut their conflicts are normally internecine, the team said. They are patriarchal, ambitious, excitable and violent. The team was there to study and analyse the group behaviour of 45 chimpanzees as part of the Loango Chimpanzee Project in a region where gorillas also live.Ĭhimps, who share 98.7% of human DNA, are known to be aggressive and have some very basic traits often attributed only to humans. Researchers from Osnabrück University and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, were shocked to observe the attacks firsthand in the wild in Loango National Park in Gabon. ![]() Scientists have documented what appear to be the first-ever deadly chimpanzee attacks against gorillas, according to a new study published this week in the journal Nature. ![]()
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