July 24, 2021

Two adult males of the Loango Chimpanzee Project (Photo courtesy LCP, Lara M. Southern. All rights reserved)

An article published in the journal “Scientific Reports” reports the observation of two clashes that took place in the Loango National Park, Gabon, between groups of chimpanzees and gorillas that led to the death of two gorilla infants and the injury of three chimpanzees. Lara M. Southern, Tobias Deschner, and Simone Pika reported the chronicle of these two unprecedented clashes since until the first clash the relationships between the two species seemed even friendly. Among the possible explanations is a decline in the availability of fruit that affected various parts of Gabon due to climate change and may have triggered the competition for food up to these outbreaks of violence.