Chimpanzees in Uganda involved in civil war for the past 8 years : Ngogo chimpanzee war
The recent news from Uganda is the chimpanzee civil war that has been happening between chimpanzees groups in Uganda’s Kibale National Park. According to researchers and scientists the Ngogo chimpanzees in Kibale Forest were once a close community that has since split into groups with records of adult male chimpanzees attacking chimpanzees in another group.
This “civil war” between the rival groups is reported to have been going on since 2018 and scientists have recorded 24 killings with infants included. Scientists and researchers actually believe that a higher number of deaths have occurred.
Researchers have over the years been monitoring the behavior of chimpanzees in Uganda with some stationed at Makerere University Biological Field Station(MUBFS) located in the northern part of Kibale National Park. The station is a centre for research and education and a great base for researchers as they head into Kibale Forest to research and monitor the Ngogo chimpanzees. Trails that lead to Ngogo are easily accessible from the centre.
It is therefore all thanks to the researchers and scientists that we are able to get this interesting information about the chimpanzees, also known as man’s closest relatives with whom we share 98% DNA. It is no wonder that the chimp war is happening because one would argue that just like humans, chimpanzees also experience conflict within themselves even after living and existing together as a community in harmony.
Aaron Sandel who is the co-director of the Ngogo Chimpanzee project said “These were chimps that would hold hands.” This shows how close of a community they were however now they are attacking and even killing each other. Researchers under the Ngogo chimpanzee project believe that a number of factors are causing this chimpanzee civil war, the factors include competition for resources, competition between the adult male chimps and the group size.
The Ngogo Chimpanzee Project
The Ngogo chimpanzee project has greatly invested and contributed to the conservation of chimpanzees in Kibale National Park. Researchers and scientists spend a considerable amount of time studying the behavior of the Ngogo chimpanzees and the data collected over the years informs conservation decisions. The project has an anti-poaching program and works with other conservation enthusiasts to protect the Ngogo chimpanzees. The Ngogo chimpanzees have been studied by researchers for three decades, chimpanzee researchers have spent these years collecting samples, studying the chimp’s behavior and also checking their health status.
The Ngogo chimpanzees
The Ngogo chimps are a community that has been studied for years and the chimpanzees have been featured in Netflix’s Chimp Empire series that was released in 2023. The wildlife documentary garnered a lot of attention in the wildlife conservation space as it portrayed the behavior of these amazing apes in their natural habitat. The Ngogo chimpanzee community lives in Uganda’s Kibale National Park which is also referred to as the “primate capital of the world” and is known for its chimpanzee trekking adventure that brings you closer to these apes.
Why did the Ngogo chimpanzees split and what really happened?
According to researchers, the Ngogo chimpanzees were a close knit community of about 200 individuals, they existed together for decades with no issues. Suddenly, in 2015, things took a turn.
The community was divided into two factions known as western and central, the two groups were living in harmony and sharing territory. Aaron Sandel, the co-director of the Ngogo chimpanzee project observed them in 2015 splitting and conflicting when the western group chimpanzees ran away and were chased by the chimpanzees from the central group.
After the 2015 conflict researchers noticed that interactions between the two groups became distant. According to Sandel, when the chimps would interact the exchange was “a little more aggressive”. This conflict ensued and in 2018 chimpanzees in the western group started aggressively attacking the central group chimpanzees hence the “civil war” between the two rival groups. This behavior among the chimpanzees is interesting because it portrays the relationship between chimpanzees and humans and how closely related we are to them. It indicates how just like humans, chimps also experience conflict and that it can get intense to the point of killing each other.
According to Aaron Sandel and his fellow researchers, they mentioned in their publication in the journal science that “Group conflict among nonhuman animals from mongooses to monkeys is well known. However, lethal conflict among groups of animals that were once socially affiliated has not been observed outside of humans, in whom cultural ideologies can drive divisions among individuals within the same group”. It is interesting to see such ground breaking research unfold and we should be thankful for science and research for introducing us to interesting behaviours about our closest relatives – the chimpanzees.
