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Uganda Ngogo chimps remain split after years of raids
Hindustan Times··28 Aug
Researchers describe years-long conflict between central and western chimpanzee factions in Uganda's Ngogo community, shown in Netflix's Chimp Empire. Fighting likely began in 2014 after elders died from respiratory illness and a new alpha rose. As of April the known toll was seven adult males and 17 infants. By December the western group numbered 108 and the central group 76.
Prism
What It Means For You
- Viewers of Chimp Empire are watching a conflict filmed through 2021 that field reports say was still active as of April.
- Fruit trees along a patrolled border remain the resource at the centre of the Ngogo raids described by researchers.
- Comparisons in the same feature note similar hierarchy breakdowns in capuchins, mongooses and ants when territory or food is contested.
What's Happening
- The central group keeps patrolling a dense fruit-tree belt even as numbers fall after Jackson's death.
- The western faction patrols a smaller territory but has been killing at a growing rate, the report says.
- Filming was based at Kibale National Park in Uganda.
How the Ngogo split started
- Without elders to broker peace, a smaller western group drifted away under a less aggressive leader of its own.
- Alpha Jackson, named by series makers, died in 2022 after an attack by the western group.
- The original undivided community numbered about 200, described as the world's largest-known wild chimpanzee group.
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