Marquel, TPVs NYTimes J. Fred Muggs Section correspondent was taking art classes when he read on the window of the NY Times building in NYC, Lethal Violence in Chimps Occurs Naturally, Study Suggests. A new survey suggests that violence is a natural part of chimp behavior and not the result of actions by humans that push the animals to lethal attacks. Whether chimpanzees are naturally violent or whether they learn it from humans could help answer the question whether violence is genetically part of human nature or whether it is learned social behavior that could therefore be unlearned.Marquel went out to the Bronx Zoo where they were examining these theories. He watched the chimps. They were little, hairy, dark, people. The zookeeper told me these chimps, if violent, may well have learned it from humans.
I watched as one chimp stood around the corners, just waiting, making smacking noises with his lips. Actually, all the chimps were making smacking noises with their lips. Another chimp came round the corner, carrying two bananas, and the waiting chimp grabbed him around the neck, forced him to the ground, until he dropped both bananas. The victim then fled. The criminal ate both bananas, smacked his lips and resumed waiting.
A little later I saw the same chimp standing at a distance from a group of chimps. In the middle of the crowd was one chimp who had three shells in front of him on a flat stone. He kept shuffling the shells, stopped, and nobody did anything. The chimp at a distance ambled over, pointed at a shell, which the center chimp lifted, moving his had back and forth as if it were no. The chimp from the distance smacked his head and gave the center chimp a banana. Shuffled again, another chimp pointed, lost and gave up a banana. They were playing three card Monte! With a shill!
Later on I saw a group of younger chimps walking by. The other chimps made way for then. Eventually they cornered another lone young chimp, pummeled him, and took a leaf off his head he’d been wearing as a hat.
And then a single female came ambling by. She circled the young chimp gang, made another circuit until an older chimp approached her. They went together behind a tree. He mounted her and before he could move a muscle her arm reached back and grabbed him. He stretched his hand out to the side and grabbed a bunch of bananas, giving it to her. He resumed his interest in her but her hand still was back until he gave her a second bunch wherein they engaged in several perverse acts until he was finished with her. She quickly gathered up her bananas and left.
But not quick enough. Suddenly an older chimp appeared, grabbed the young ho and did some sort of jiu jitsu maneuver. The ho was on the floor, and the woman chimp grabbed the male by the cheek and led him away, slapping him.
Talk about violence. Theft. Fraud. Prostitution. Domestic abuse. I had to find out how things were in Africa.
My flight went smoothly and I was dropped at the chimp preserve where almost no humans are allowed. I was driven in by jeep to a clearing surrounded by dense forest and told to just stay in the car and observe.
First there was nothing. Hours went by. Then a band of chimps arrived. They had leaves and roots and sat around eating. Suddenly a fight started between two chimps over one leaf. They twisted, choked, pummeled, until one was on the ground. The other jumped onto a branch, twisted off a piece, jumped down, and stabbed the other through the heart. The other chimps became violently agitated, grabbed branches and beat the assailant with them until he was on the ground, bleeding profusely. Vigilante justice, I presumed.
Things quieted down. The chimps were sated and dozed. Two chimps went to a corner of the clearing, and cuddled. The male tried to mount the other but was rebuffed. He left, returned with what looked like a zucchini or root, gave it to the prone chimp who then allowed him to mount her. A jungle slut! While they were involved, a very tall chimp approached, watched them for awhile, took the root and slapped the female. Could that be a chimp pimp?
By morning things had quieted down except when the pimp’s female came by. All the other females stopped smacking their lips and started clucking, forcing the female to sleep alone at the edge of the clearing.
At sunrise, all seemed quiet. We decided to wait until they reassembled for breakfast. One came back with a hoard of roots. Another chimp started throwing a rock against a tree. Others soon joined him. After several throws, the thrower either put a root in the center or the others gave him more roots. I had no doubt they were playing craps. When disputes arose, a friend of the original organizer intervened and quieted things down. But I did see one unruly chimp who wasn’t so easily pacified. The large chimp twisted his arm so far I heard it snap. A crap game with a bouncer.
Gambling, prostitution, violence, revenge. These chimps, untouched by humans, were as violent as the city chimps or, for that matter, city people. It looked to me like violence was buried deep within our genetic histories. It’s going to take more than wishes and theories to eradicate it. What chimps don’t have, however, is the gift of speech.
Maybe Rodney King’s plea will be heard by us, if not by chimps. I suddenly felt bad for the chimps.
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BY MARQUEL: King Kong Used to Be a Chimp
Extraordinary
Marqule, today your writing was so moving…I love it.
so insightful
i almost cried
it’s satire, people! satire