Chimps.

This is coolbert:

From the Chicago Tribune today, some insight into the origins of war, as observed in the behavior of chimpanzees?

"Chimps wage war, take land"

"Single-file patrols attack outsiders, study finds"

"WASHINGTON - - Chimpanzees wage war, mercilessly killing members of neighboring groups to expand their own territory, researchers report Monday."

"biologists had long suspected that chimp violence could be more than random.

"Unusual chimpanzee patrols in which the animals moved quickly, silently and in single file, carefully watching for other chimpanzees."

"They had been on patrol outside of their territory for more than two hours when they surprised a small group of females from the community to the northwest."

"The attackers quickly killed one and struggled with the mother of the second for an hour and a half."

"In the process, our [the chimps observed by the researchers] chimpanzees have acquired more land and resources that are then redistributed to others in the group."

Comments:

* Prior to the research of the now world famous Jane Goodall, chimpanzees were thought be placid, tree-dwelling, vegetarian creatures. A more kinder and gentler form of the primate than the human. That sort of perception no longer exists. Chimps have been observed killing and eating small animals [meat], making and using tools, having a boss ape [the alpha male], having an aggressive side to them, and even waging what seems to resemble war.

[the experts are fond of stating that only among the animal kingdom do humans and ANTS wage war!]

* Chimps and humans share a 99.9 % genome. Genetically very similar. Our closest relatives in the animal kingdom. That 1/10 of 1 % does make, however, for quite a difference, does it not?

* Chimps have been seen making tools for war. Branches found on the ground or ripped off a tree, used as a club. Use stones in hand to strike one another too?

* I have actually seen the films that show the chimps on patrol, as described in the Tribune article. And it DOES resemble a military patrol. Single file, spaced individuals, patrolling their turf, casually ambling along, with a purpose however, very alert, taking the full measure of their surroundings and paying particular interest to any disturbance they may come along. Patrolling!!

* These chimps where not only defending their "turf", they were outside of their normal territory and desiring to expand if possible. So it seems. Scouting and taking advantage of whatever situation occurs. Expansionist. For the gain of land and resources and the betterment of the "tribe".

coolbert.