Overview
- The Ngogo chimpanzees study, published Thursday in Science, details a permanent split into Western and Central factions and a years-long string of lethal raids by the Western group.
- Between 2018 and 2024, researchers confirmed at least seven adult males and 17 infants killed, with several unexplained disappearances pointing to a higher toll.
- Violence has continued past the study window, with multiple outlets reporting further killings through 2025 and 2026 that push the total to about 28.
- Researchers tie the rupture to an unusually large community, the deaths of key “bridge” males, a new alpha, and tougher competition for food and mates.
- Genetic evidence suggests such lasting fissions occur roughly once every 500 years, making Ngogo a rare natural case with urgent conservation stakes and testable insights for human-conflict research.