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Chimps and humans "both natural born killers," scientists say

Nature & Animals

18-09-2014 | 06:35

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Chimps and humans "both natural born killers," scientists say

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Scientists have revealed that chimps and humans are both ‘natural born killers’ with an almost psychopathic tendency towards slaughter and violence.

The psychopathic tendency of our closest animal relatives is not the result of human interference, evidence suggests.

A widely held theory is chimps only turn on each other when humans disrupt their food supplies or forest habitats. The research, published in Nature, shows this is wishful thinking. In reality, chimpanzees fight and kill to obtain what they want and “eliminate rivals," the authors say.

The study also found that competing groups of the animals go to war over resources such as food, territory or mates.

In the fierce clashes investigated by the scientists, infants were often killed, sometimes after being snatched from their mothers.

"This is an important question to get right. If we are using chimpanzees as a model for understanding human violence, we need to know what really causes chimps to be violent,” says US scientist Dr. Michael Wilson, from the University of Minnesota.

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