The evolutionary roots of lethal conflict

Abstract

The authors then tested how the frequency of killings by chimpanzees was affected by several variables linked to human impact, including provisioning and habitat disturbance, and a second set of variables related to the intensity of resource competition, including the number of males and population density. Perceptions of the behaviour of non-human primates, particularly chimpanzees, are often distorted by ideology and anthropomorphism, which produce a predisposition to believe that morally desirable features, such as empathy and altruism, have deep evolutionary roots, whereas undesirable features, such as group-level violence and sexual coercion, do not.