The researchers say they observed two groups of wild chimpanzees in Tay National Park daily for three years and saw them adopt human-like tactics in high-altitude combat situations.
They were thirty beings who were climbing a rocky hill to monitor the enemy's movements during a border patrol in a dangerous area. But soon, realizing that detecting the sounds of the enemy would bring them closer to danger, they retreated. There was no reason to risk fighting when the odds were against you.
This scenario has been seen many times in the history of human wars. But this time, this exercise was not done by humans but by chimpanzees living in Tai National Park in the African country of Ivory Coast. In this regard, the researchers say that they have observed two groups of wild chimpanzees in Tai National Park every day for three years, and during this time they saw them adopting this strategy at high altitudes in combat conditions.
The study also revealed that the entry of a group of chimpanzees into enemy territory depended on their observation from a hilltop and the information gathered during that time. The researchers concluded that chimpanzees are more likely to enter enemy territory when the risk of conflict is low.
The study, they say, is the first recorded use of this ancient military strategy by chimpanzees. The journal PLOS Biology has published this study. Sylvain Lemoine, who is associated with the study, says that the results from this study show the ability of chimpanzees to perceive and cooperate with objects, allowing them to decide when and where to go and what actions are to be taken securely based on the information collected.
According to Lemoine, violence between groups of chimpanzees is common. They say that clashes between them are sometimes seen in border areas where the boundaries of the areas are unclear. One reason, they say, is that chimpanzees compete with each other for land, which also contains food reserves. Therefore, they are better off living in large areas because it reduces competition for land between groups of chimpanzees and increases the reproductive rate of female chimpanzees.
In this context, Lemoine adds that chimpanzees have a strong sense of fighting for and defending the territory they consider their own. "They regularly patrol the border in these areas."
According to Lemoine, fights between two groups of chimpanzees can be of different types, such as short-distance verbal fights or chasing, biting, and grappling. "Chimpanzees frequently kill one another, and the victims of these fights can be of any age."
Currently, chimpanzees and another type of ape, the bonobo, are the closest animals genetically to humans. And so studying the behavior of chimpanzees might give us more information about humans.
In this way, Lemoine says, "we can better understand where we came from and what makes us human. We can better understand the last common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees." types of behavior were found and can also better predict what the social behavior of ancient homonymous species was like."
