The Case for Evolved Adaptations, by the Evidence

Abstract

Abstract This chapter contests claims of killing as evolved adaptive strategies, focusing on infants and intergroup killing of adults, especially males. It uses the demonic perspective or Gombe vision to denote the overarching paradigm that came out of the Four Year War. It also mentions most behavioral ecology that concentrates on how populations adapt flexibly to environmental conditions without grand generalizations about chimpanzee or human natures. The chapter highlights several years of observations across Africa, which have shown that when three or more males from one community find a lone individual from a neighboring community, they kill this individual. Intergroup killing appears to be a widespread trait of chimpanzees, rather than the result of circumstances peculiar to one or a few study sites.