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\n\t\tTwo adult male members of the Ngogo chimpanzee group at Kibale National Park in Uganda (Picture: Reuters)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\tTwo adult male members of the Ngogo chimpanzee group at Kibale National Park in Uganda (Picture: Reuters)<\/p>\n
Yet another war has broken out in the world \u2013 but this time among chimpanzees.<\/p>\n
Scientists have observed the first-ever \u2018chimp civil war\u2019 in the world\u2019s largest group of Ngogo chimpanzees.<\/p>\n
A pack of 200 great apes lived in harmony in Uganda<\/a>\u2019s Kibale National Park for decades until their social bonds began to break down in 2015.<\/p>\n In June that year, some of the Ngogo\u00a0chimps chased away their mates, causing the community to split into the Central and Western groups.<\/p>\n Still, the rival groups had Romeo and Juliet-style relationships and shared land and resources, according to a study published today in Science<\/a>.<\/p>\n But by 2018, the last of the friendships ended, and the apes began patrolling their homes and even carrying out raids into enemy territory. <\/p>\n \t\t\t\tSign up for all of the latest stories\t\t\t<\/p>\n Start your day informed with Metro’s News Updates<\/a> newsletter or get Breaking News<\/a> alerts the moment it happens. <\/p>\n \t\t Over the next four years, Western males killed seven males and 17 infants from the Central group.<\/p>\n A further 14 adolescent chimps, who had shown no sign of illness, disappeared; their bodies were never recovered.<\/p>\n The study\u2019s lead author, Aaron Sandel, a primatologist at the University of Texas, said more deadly attacks were seen after the study ended in 2024. <\/p>\n \u2018Nothing like this has ever been observed before,\u2019 Sandel said. \u2018[Ngogo] is the first time that you could say definitively that the civil war is actually happening.\u2019<\/p>\n Why the larger community broke down is unclear, but Sandel suspects that as their population swelled in numbers, the social order broke down. <\/p>\n Competition over food and the death and resulting succession of alpha males may have also been a factor, the paper says.<\/p>\n \t\t Chimpanzees are humankind\u2019s closest living ancestors, having been seen making tools, falling in love<\/a>, grieving and becoming violent<\/a>. <\/p>\n These complex behaviours are passed from generation to generation and chimps even have \u2018culminative cultures\u2019, something only seen in people.<\/p>\n Many animals form cultures, where they learn something from another, but chimps have been seen innovating what they learn from others over time.<\/p>\n One reason, experts believe<\/a>, is that chimps mingle so much, allowing for social learning. Chimp communities very rarely fracture, only doing so every 500 years. <\/p>\n Sandel hopes the team\u2019s findings help people understand not only why we wage wars against one another but also how we can live in peace.<\/p>\n \u2018What we have to do is maintain interpersonal relationships,\u2019 he says. <\/p>\n \u2018In our own daily lives with the people that we interact with, if we can reunite \u2013 even in the face of conflict \u2013 then I think that\u2019s a recipe for maintaining peace.\u2019<\/p>\n Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk<\/a>.<\/p>\n For more stories like this, check our news page<\/a>.<\/p>\n Arrow Arrow Arrow![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/SEI_292633882-4705.jpg\")
\n\t\tChimpanzees are one of our closest relatives (Picture: Getty Images\/Gallo Images ROOTS)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/SEI_292633810-1fcc.jpg\")
\n\t\tChimps have long been observed exhibiting human-like behaviours, like tool-making (Picture: Getty Images\/imageBROKER RF)<\/p>\n
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