Only known chimp war reveals how societies splinter - life - 07 May 2014. PICTURE the scene: a weak leader is struggling to hold onto power as ambitious upstarts plot to take over.
As tensions rise, the community splits and the killing begins. The war will last for years. No, this isn't the storyline of an HBO fantasy drama, but real events involving chimps in Tanzania's Gombe Stream National Park. A look at the social fragmentation that led to a four-year war in the 1970s now reveals similarities between the ways chimpanzee and human societies break down. Article_20827_5-eerily-human-things-you-wont-believe-animals-do. Humans live with the illusion that there is a distinct line between us and everything else in the animal kingdom.
People are unique and independent, with our own special ambitions and traits, while animals fall pretty much into one of two categories: pets and dinner. That's why every once in a while we like to remind everyone of all of the insane ways animals are just like us. For instance ... #5. Marmosets Make Polite Conversation; Chimps Will Fake Laughter Dean Pennala/iStock/Getty Images We know that animals can communicate, but not like humans. Human and dog brains both have dedicated 'voice areas' The first study to compare brain function between humans and any nonprimate animal shows that dogs have dedicated voice areas in their brains, just as people do.
Dog brains, like those of people, are also sensitive to acoustic cues of emotion, according to a study in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on February 20. The findings suggest that voice areas evolved at least 100 million years ago, the age of the last common ancestor of humans and dogs, the researchers say. It also offers new insight into humans' unique connection with our best friends in the animal kingdom and helps to explain the behavioral and neural mechanisms that made this alliance so effective for tens of thousands of years. "Dogs and humans share a similar social environment," says Attila Andics of MTA-ELTE Comparative Ethology Research Group in Hungary. "Our findings suggest that they also use similar brain mechanisms to process social information. News: Chimps Invent Brush Tool. 6 Terrifying Ways Crows Are Way Smarter Than You Think. Mankind has a long and checkered past with crows and ravens: They have been feared as symbols of death, because they're all black and scary, revered as creators of the world because, well, it was either them or the seagulls, and worshiped as trickster gods, because of their baffling intelligence.
Intelligent enough, in fact, for us to start worrying ... #6. They Can Remember Your Face Next time you see a group of crows, look closely. Try to remember which one is which, and see if you can tell the difference between them the next time you pass. OK, so the scientists weren't just playing out horror movie fantasies -- they were testing whether the crows could recognize human faces or not. "Wow. Pretty soon, every single crow on the campus knew which masks meant trouble, and wanted the guys wearing them dead. Oh, and also none of the scientists were ever seen again. #5. The 7 Most Impressive Examples of Animal Architecture. We have a pretty good idea about what sets humanity aside from the animals.
We built the Pyramids, assholes. Well, we hate to break it to you, but animals have been cranking out architectural marvels since humanity was still trying to figure out how pooping works. We're talking about things like ... The Great Wall of Beavers Via Juliux Contrary to popular belief, the Great Wall of China cannot be seen from space. 5 Creepy Ways Animal Societies Are Organizing. One thing we've learned during our extensive research here at Cracked is that animals are more and more amazing the more you learn about them.
But there's a point on the graph where they're a little too amazing, and then it crosses into "unsettling. " So we're not sure how to feel about the fact that... Chimpanzees Go to War You'd think "Chimpanzee Researcher" would be the most hilarious job in the world, what with the subjects always putting on people clothes and pretending to smoke pipes. But during a 10-year study of a community of chimps in Uganda, scientists found something terrifying. More terrifying than the Congo chimp's alliance with the Clown People. Every once in a while groups of strong chimp males would form up and head north, toward the border between their territory and the land of the neighboring tribe.
Then they did it again. You expect this kind of bullshit from apes. Source This isn't some freak occurrence, either. 6 Things You Won't Believe Animals Do Just Like Us. Being a human is a pretty sweet gig, all things considered.
We've got opposable thumbs so dexterous they could start their own Cirque du Soleil troupe and brains so ripped our skulls can barely contain them. But before you grab your dog and give him a triumphant "IN YOUR (FAITHFUL, ADORABLE) FACE! " you should know that some of the traits and behaviors that make us human are also demonstrated by other animals. Animals that apparently think they're people. #6.