It’s something scientists have never observed before: chimpanzees, formerly with close family bonds, now engaging in deadly combat.
A recent study looked at one of the largest groups of chimps in the world, which primatologists have been observing since 1995. For decades, the group thrived, but recently, factions have broken off, and fighting has turned deadly — and scientists aren’t sure why.
Host Caryn Ceolin is speaking with Dr. John Mitani, one of the researchers who’s been observing the chimps, and an author of the paper, about what’s going on between the primates and what we might be able to learn from it.
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