• First lethal attacks by chimpanzees on gorillas observed

    From Primum Sapienti@21:1/5 to All on Sun Dec 12 23:06:00 2021
    Note the bipedal chimps in the accompanying photos...

    https://www.mpg.de/17223684/0719-evan-lethal-attacks-by-chimpanzees-on-gorillas-observed-150495-x?c=2249

    Research team now examines impact of food competition and climate change
    JULY 19, 2021

    A research team from Osnabrück University and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, has, for the first time, observed
    lethal attacks by chimpanzees on gorillas in the wild. Whether this
    behavior is
    due to competition for food or to the decline of the rainforest's
    productivity
    caused by climate change will now be investigated in more detail.
    ...
    Lethal encounters between the chimpanzees and gorillas have so far never been documented. "Our observations provide the first evidence that the presence of chimpanzees can have a lethal impact on gorillas. We now want to
    investigate the
    factors triggering these surprisingly aggressive interactions," says
    Tobias Deschner.

    What exactly happened? Lara M. Southern, PhD student and first author of
    the study,
    recalls the first observation in 2019: "At first, we only noticed screams
    of chimpanzees
    and thought we were observing a typical encounter between individuals of neighboring chimpanzee communities. But then, we heard chest beats, a
    display characteristic for gorillas, and realized that the chimpanzees had encountered a group
    of five gorillas."

    In the encounters, which lasted 52 and 79 minutes, the chimpanzees formed coalitions
    and attacked the gorillas. The two silverbacks of the two groups and the
    adult females
    defended themselves and their offspring. Both silverbacks and several
    adult females
    escaped, but two gorilla infants were separated from their mothers and
    were killed.
    ...

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