Although chimpanzees and humansshare a surprising98.8 percent of their DNA , our differences are immense – or at least we like to think . Take a tone at chimp behavior and you ’ll quickly understand that we ’re not so different from our primate cousin-german ( for better or for bad ) .
Chimps are warmongers
humanity are n’t the only animals to engage warfare on their own coinage . Between 1974 and 1978 , a brutal warbetween two factions of chimpswas documented in Tanzania ’s Gombe National Park by the renowned primatologist Jane Goodall .
It came to be know as the Gombe Chimpanzee War – and it leave a fundamental impact on Goodall .
“ Often when I woke in the night , dreaded pictures sprang unbidden to my mind – Satan [ one of the apes ] , cupping his hand below Sniff ’s chin to drink the blood that swell from a great wound on his face … Jomeo tearing a strip of pelt from Dé ’s second joint ; Figan , charging and hitting , again and again , the stricken , quivering body of Goliath , one of his puerility hero , ” she write inher memoir .
It would be uninstructed to see this as mindless violence . In 2023 , scientists document chimps in Côte d’Ivoirespying on rival gangs , carefully move to high ground to get a better view and get together info . This , the researchers take , is essentially an geezerhood - old tactic of human warfare .
While some researchers have accuse certain primatologists of theanthropism , others havesuggestedthat war - like behavior among chimps might supply insights into the evolutionary origins of organized force in humans .
Chimps love to hunt animals and eat meat
chimpanzee typically rust a dieting of fruits , root , nuts , leaves , plant , flower , and bugs , but nub does make up a small part of their dieting in the wild . To get their hands on this protein - rich daintiness , small-scale mammals like monkey are typically point .
Once again , Goodall was one of the first researchers to scientifically text file chimps indulging in carnivorous behavior and it ’s since become relatively plebeian knowledge .
Aparticularly strange behaviorwas observe in Gombe National Park where researchers saw chimps hound down and use up dozens of baby red colobus monkey monkeys . While run around and sharing the catches , the chimps were seen burn start the monkey skulls and tucking into their brains . On a few occasions , the chimps even used stick and leaves to mop up the last bits of mind matter .
In another illustration , researchers even observed chimps usingspears to track down kip bush babiesin Senegal .
Scientistshave ponderedwhether chimpanzee hunt behavior might shed light onto the early evolution of humans ' , as well as our taste for pith .
Chimps are basically little scientists
The world of chimps is n’t all rakehell , guts , and furiousness . A huge body of grounds also demonstrate that chimpanzees are capable of unbelievable displays of cognitive force and emotional intelligence activity .
For one , chimpanzees are make love to actively seek out medicinal plants when they are sick or wounded . Astudy in 2024noted how injured and inauspicious chimp in Uganda ’s Budongo Central Forest Reserve will run through industrial plant that keep back anti - inflammatory properties or naturally contain extremely strong inhibitors of pathogen such asE. coli .
also , Pan troglodytes have been seenapplying squish bugsonto their wound . While the medicinal benefits of crushed insects are n’t known , insects have historically been used for therapeutic purposes by humans as far back as 1400 BCE and go along to be used in certain parts of the globe to this day .
Who know , perhaps thesechimps are onto somethingthat modern medication has yet to grasp …
