Warfare Among Chimpanzees

Warfare has been present in our lives for many years. Not only has warfare existed within humans but has also been present in animals such as the chimpanzees. A known example of warfare amongst Homo sapiens is the Yanomamo village. The Yanomamo village shows us that warfare is not just for fighting but to also resolve conflicts. Warfare is very important to understand as it explains how it is related to human evolution. We refer to warfare as a process of battle but it is an organized aggression between autonomous political units that is usually motivated by a common purpose (Thorpe, 2003).

Warfare is evident among humans and we commonly associate warfare with humans. An example of warfare among humans is the Yanomamo village of the amazon.

It is known that warfare has been present even at the start of the prehistoric times (Otterbein, 1999). When we think of warfare we associate it with Homo sapiens, but warfare is also present in animals like the chimpanzee. The chimpanzees are the closest relative to us Homo sapiens, and warfare is seen among the chimpanzees as the young male chimpanzees patrol their territory and defend it from neighbouring groups. These chimpanzees defend their territory from neighbouring groups so that they do not steal any of their resources. This is due to the chimpanzees having a territorial instinct that exists within them. By fighting the chimpanzees will have more access to resources when they win (Thorpe, 2003). When there is less resources among the groups, the chimpanzees start to become hostile which leads them to have intergroup conflict (Wilson & Wrangham, 2003). From the chimpanzees we are able to see how important human evolution is to warfare because the victors of the fight will lead them to have more resources which means the males will have a higher chance of reproductive success therefore will lead to more offspring to continue their lineage. When chimpanzees fight they bare their teeth to show aggressiveness and dominance over each other (De Waal, 1988). By doing this it will scare away or intimidate their opponent. When the chimpanzees bare their teeth

Wilson & Wrangham (2003) states that both species defend their territory but there is no indication of any lethal violence among them. However the bonobos may intermingle with friendly neighbouring bonobo communities, and as they intermingle with other members from different communities, they will groom and copulate without any signs of aggression (Wilson & Wrangham, 2003). Even though both the chimpanzee and bonobos bare their teeth, the bonobos bare their teeth in a friendly and pleasurable context, such as during sexual intercourse, the bonobos will bare their teeth when they feel threatened or their infants are screaming. Or when they are having fun, the bonobos will often have their full teeth-baring making them look like they are laughing which makes them look more human like (De Waal, 1988). The chimpanzees, bonobos and the Yanomamo village are very important to understand when we are relating it to warfare. Within the bonobos we are able to see that there is less intergroup violence compared to the chimpanzees. This helps us understand that warfare is evident in not only just humans but also animals as the bonobos share the same characteristics of laughing with the humans and that even though there is less intergroup violence among them we are able to see that they will still show signs of aggressiveness when needed (De Waal,