美國研究人員21日報告說，他們研究發(fā)現(xiàn)黑猩猩會為了爭奪領(lǐng)地而發(fā)動“戰(zhàn)爭”,，甚至不惜殺死其他領(lǐng)地的黑猩猩,。
研究人員在最新一期美國《當(dāng)代生物學(xué)》雜志上介紹說,，他們對烏干達(dá)基巴萊國家公園的一個黑猩猩群體進(jìn)行了長達(dá)10年的跟蹤觀察。這個黑猩猩群體十分龐大,，約有150個成員,，而且雄性比例很高。在10年的觀察期內(nèi),，這個群體曾殺死或重傷了18只其他群體的黑猩猩,。
研究人員曾觀察到，這一群體的黑猩猩先排成一列,，靜靜地迅速移動,，仔細(xì)觀察其他群體的黑猩猩，然后發(fā)動突然襲擊,。一系列襲擊的后果是,，這一群體黑猩猩的領(lǐng)地擴大了約22％。
黑猩猩是人類最近的近親,。人類學(xué)家很久以前就發(fā)現(xiàn)，黑猩猩不同種群間會發(fā)生殘殺,，并推測其原因可能為爭奪領(lǐng)地,。參與這項研究的密歇根大學(xué)人類學(xué)家約翰·米塔尼認(rèn)為，他們的研究首次提供了有關(guān)這一假設(shè)的清晰證據(jù),。（生物谷Bioon.net）
生物谷推薦原文出處：
Current Biology doi:10.1016/j.cub.2010.04.021
Lethal intergroup aggression leads to territorial expansion in wild chimpanzees
John C. Mitani 1, David P. Watts 2,and Sylvia J. Amsler 3
1 Department of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
2 Department of Anthropology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
3 Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA
Chimpanzees make lethal coalitionary attacks on members of other groups [1]. This behavior generates considerable attention because it resembles lethal intergroup raiding in humans [2]. Similarities are nevertheless difficult to evaluate because the function of lethal intergroup aggression by chimpanzees remains unclear. One prominent hypothesis suggests that chimpanzees attack neighbors to expand their territories and to gain access to more food [2]. Two cases apparently support this hypothesis, but neither furnishes definitive evidence. Chimpanzees in the Kasekela community at Gombe National Park took over the territory of the neighboring Kahama community after a series of lethal attacks [3]. Understanding these events is complicated because the Kahama community had recently formed by fissioning from the Kasekela group and members of both communities had been provisioned with food. In a second example from the Mahale Mountains, the M group chimpanzees acquired part of the territory of the adjacent K group after all of the adult males in the latter disappeared [4]. Although fatal attacks were suspected from observations of intergroup aggression, they were not witnessed, and as a consequence, this case also fails to furnish conclusive evidence. Here we present data collected over 10 years from an unusually large chimpanzee community at Ngogo, Kibale National Park, Uganda. During this time, we observed the Ngogo chimpanzees kill or fatally wound 18 individuals from other groups; we inferred three additional cases of lethal intergroup aggression based on circumstantial evidence (see Supplemental Information). Most victims were caught in the same region and likely belonged to the same neighboring group. A causal link between lethal intergroup aggression and territorial expansion can be made now that the Ngogo chimpanzees use the area once occupied by some of their victims.
