Chimpanzee

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were always
perceived to be playful, gentle monkeys, could suddenly become dangerous killers.
"I knew that some of our chimpanzees, so gentle for the most part, could on
occasion become savage killers, ruthless cannibals, and that they had their own
form of primitive warfare."(Goodall, 1979:594) To try and explain this ruthless
behavior it is necessary to first analyze their social upbringing and unique
lifestyle.
The Chimpanzee society is clearly a male dominated aggressive social unit.
Males are larger than females, they are more openly aggressive, and they fight
more often. (Holloway, 1974:261)
These fights can look extremely fierce and
the victim screams loudly. But it is rare
for a fight between community members to last
longer than quarter of a minute, and it is
even more unusual for such a fight to result
in serious injury.(Goodall, 1992:7)

Many fights break out suddenly. Afterwards the loser of the fight, even
though clearly fearful of the aggressor, will ...

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hierarchy that is called the "alpha-male."
Many of the male chimpanzees spend a lot of energy and run risks of serious
injury in pursuit of higher status. The rewards of the alpha male are claiming
rights to the food, female partners, and he also acquires a position exempt
from attack by fellow chimps.(Goodall, 1979:616) However, the latter discussion
has dealt solely with inter-group aggression, (fighting within groups of the
same community); outer-group aggression is grotesquely different.
A chimpanzee community has a home range within which its members constantly
roam. Usually the home range consists of roughly five to eight square miles.
The adult male chimpanzees usually in ...

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