If you’ve ever watched a documentary about animals, you’ve probably seen that they have social structures, but instead of systematic wars, they fight between leaders. In other words, they do not gather like humans, form armies and fight. Really? The Gombe War between 1974 – 1978, in which chimpanzees attacked each other with guerrilla tactics and eventually destroyed an entire tribe, shows that what we know is not true.
We’re talking about chimpanzees after all, so millions of people didn’t die. However, it was seen that these chimpanzees, which had an unprecedented behavior with humans, fought systematically and by applying guerrilla tactics. Although there were similar events in the following years, let’s take a closer look at what happened and what happened in the Gombe War, which radically changed the scientific world’s view of animals.
They set out to monitor chimpanzee behavior:
- Jane Goodall
Although today’s studies and documentaries are admirable Until the 1960s, no one thought of studying monkeys. A group of scientists, who thought that if they could study great ape behaviors, they could also base human behaviors, set out to different parts of the world.
Jane Goodall traveled to the Gombe Forest in Tanzania, which is today Gombe National Park. There are many chimpanzee groups living here. Goodall’s studies shed light on the work of zoologists even today. One study in particular has radically changed the scientific world’s view of chimpanzees.
A tribe left without a leader:
According to studies by Jane Goodall, these chimpanzees were nature-friendly, cute creatures who hung out like a group of hippies. There was no violence or murder. Of course, some scientists said these reports were false and that Goodall was emotionally involved in his work. They were right, but even Goodall would find out too late what had happened.
Leakey, the leader of a chimpanzee group consisting of 15 females and 15 males, died in 1971. You can say what will happen, a new leader should come, but it is not easy to be a leader in the monkey world. Leaders mate with all females, lead the group, set core behaviors, and most importantly, they form alliances with strong males within the group to keep management running smoothly.
Rebellion breaks out:
Humphrey, who became the leader after Leakey’s death, was good but unable to form alliances with other men in the group. Thereupon, two brothers, Charlie and Hugh, opposed Humphrey’s leadership. With the rebellion, the group began to split within itself. Eventually, the group Charlie and Hugh, named Kahama, went to another area, leaving behind the Humphrey group, called Kasakela.
Kahama group consisted of 7 males and 3 females, Kasakela group consisted of 8 males and 12 females. Such divisions can be seen in the wild, there were no problems. However, this grouping, which lasted for years and eventually resulted in separation, was not one of the divisions we know. The events that followed looked like a real ape hell.
Find and destroy:
In 1974, a group of Kasakela men were seen chasing a Kahama man solitarily foraging for food. Finding this young man called Godi alone, the 6-member boy group caught up with him. Some of the group grabbed Godi’s hands and feet while others started beating him. Finally, they were seen hit on the head with a stone and Godi was never heard from again. He is thought to have died from his injuries.
Events did not end there. Over the following years, the Kasakela men found and beaten to death the Kahama men, who had gone out to forage alone, one by one. This was a guerrilla tactic because chimpanzees would seek food alone, even if they did many things together, and the Kasakela group knew this.
During these systematic attacks, one of the Kahama females was seen to tear apart her and the group’s offspring due to the intense stress she experienced. With the killing of the last Kahama males, called Charlie and the Sniff, in 1977, it was the females’ turn. 3 females were forcibly taken to Kasakela area. One was bitten and beaten to death when he objected. All the offspring were destroyed. By 1978, the Kahama group had completely disappeared.
Why did the Battle of Gombe take place?
These events, personally observed by Jane Goodall, shocked the entire scientific world. Primates were known to exhibit some human behavior, but this was the first time such a systematic battle had been encountered. Goodall says she was unable to sleep for a long time, and the scene that bothered her the most was a Kasakela man drinking the blood of a Kahama man who had been beaten.
Scientists doing research about the event say that this is an anomaly. It was concluded that it is natural for animals to exhibit such behavior when resources are insufficient. In other words, no animal group living in abundance and abundance exhibits such behavior.
However, one should not ignore the so-called ‘Contact hypothesis’. This situation, which is also present in humans, reveals that groups see each other as us and them. The fact that this kind of situation is also experienced in primates and the loyalty to the group explains the Gombe War much more accurately.
We answered questions such as what is the Gombe War between the chimpanzees, where the world has turned into a hell of apes, what happened, and we talked about why there is such a systematic war between animals. You can share your thoughts about the Battle of Gombe in the comments.
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