In all my years living in my townhome I’ve never had a spider build a web between the bushes at my stairs to the front porch. It must be ‘climate change’! (It’s also annoying as hell, get home some nights at 820 and have to jump across the other bushes to get on the porch) (via The Daley Gator)
For the First Time Ever, Scientists Witness Chimps Killing Gorillas
The surprising observation could yield new insights into early human evolution.
New research details two fatal encounters in which wild chimpanzees attacked and killed gorillas. It’s a rare example of one great ape species attacking another—and scientists are worried that climate change might have something to do with it.
Chimps and gorillas can be violent and territorial, but their squabbles—which can be fatal at times—happen almost exclusively within their own species. As for lethal conflicts involving two different great ape species (at least those not involving humans), that’s virtually unheard of. Hence the importance of new research published in Scientific Reports, in which scientists document two fatal clashes involving chimps and gorillas at Loango National Park in Gabon.
The reason for these seemingly unprovoked attacks is unknown, but the fatal encounters may be linked to diminished access to food. As the scientists speculate, increased food competition in Loango National Park and possibly elsewhere might be the result of climate change, though more research is needed to be sure. If this turns out to be the case, however, it’s yet another example of the natural world being turned upside down by human-instigated climate change.
“May be”, as in, “they don’t know.” This is science for climate cultists, simply jumping to conclusions with zero evidence and putting it under the banner of their cult. They have been watching these small groups since 2014, and now
“Our observations provide the first evidence that the presence of chimpanzees can have a lethal impact on gorillas,†Tobias Deschner, a primatologist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and a co-author of the study, explained in a release from the institute. “We now want to investigate the factors triggering these surprisingly aggressive interactions,†said Deschner, who leads the Loango Chimpanzee Project alongside Pika.
So, they don’t know. And, really, the people doing the observation aren’t really going full on climate cultists in immediately linking the fights to ‘climate change’: that would be Gizmodo. The researchers note that chimps can be very aggressive, violent, and killers. But, of course
As the Max Planck Institute release points out, fruits in the tropical forests of Gabon are not as abundant as they used to be, and human-caused climate change might have something to do with that. In turn, this could be causing the observed conflict between the two great ape species. More research will be needed, especially sightings of repeat conflicts between chimps and gorillas (both at Loango and elsewhere) and investigations showing the effects of deforestation, climate change, and other factors that could be changing the way these apes use their forest space and interact with one another. As Mayhew explained, these types of pressures can push ape populations closer together, resulting in more frequent encounters and increased competition over food.
Could it have anything to do with mankind encroaching on the areas these chimps and gorillas live in, taking over their lands, along with taking the fruits? Nah, this is all your fault.
When I saw the headline, I initially thought they were talking about Democrats attacking RINOs. But since it is actual chimps attacking actual gorillas, I guess I should feel bad. My guess is that this is a combination of decreased habitat caused by the expansion of humans needing living room which results in decreased access to food.