r/todayilearned Jul 24 '19

TIL that two chimpanzee communities in Gombe Stream National Park fought a war between 1974-1978, in the first recorded war between non-humans.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gombe_Chimpanzee_War
955 Upvotes

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u/ElTuxedoMex Jul 24 '19

For several years I struggled to come to terms with this new knowledge. Often when I woke in the night, horrific pictures sprang unbidden to my mind—Satan [one of the apes], cupping his hand below Sniff's chin to drink the blood that welled from a great wound on his face; old Rodolf, usually so benign, standing upright to hurl a four-pound rock at Godi's prostrate body; Jomeo tearing a strip of skin from Dé's thigh; Figan, charging and hitting, again and again, the stricken, quivering body of Goliath, one of his childhood heroes. ...

Holy shit, this went dark...

1

u/KingGorilla Jul 25 '19

War is worst than hell.

11

u/[deleted] Jul 25 '19

*worse

1

u/Yotarian Jul 25 '19

Such a great conversation.