In fact, chimpanzees and gorillas live peacefully side by side in the forests of Africa. But now, for the first time ever, researchers have been able to observe a fight between the two species of monkey – without provocations beforehand.
There have been several violent clashes between the two species in the past few months. The researchers first observed the fight in December 2019 in a national park in Gabon, reports the specialist magazine “Nature”. Two dozen chimpanzees attacked five gorillas.
Usually peaceful coexistence
“At first we thought that two rival chimpanzee clans had collided. But then we heard beating on the chest, a typical feature of the gorillas », says study director Lara M. Southern. Then they would have realized that the chimpanzees and the gorillas are attacking each other.
All of the adult gorillas survived the attack, but not the offspring. A baby gorilla was killed by the chimpanzees and “almost completely eaten,” says Southern. I’ve never seen that before. Usually the animals do not eat each other after fighting.
Gorillas and chimpanzees usually live together peacefully. Fights only take place within the species, for example in turf fights. The researchers now want to find out why the groups in the Congo behave differently. (zis)