Infant Killing and Cannibalism in Free-Living Chimpanzees
Abstract
Male chimpanzees at the Gombe National Park were twice seen to attack 'stranger' females and seize their infants. One infant was then killed and partially eaten: the other was 'rescued' and carried by three different males. Once several males were found eating a freshly killed 'stranger' infant. A similar event was observed in Uganda by Dr. Suzuki and Dr. Nishida reports an incident from the Mahali Mountains, Tanzania. A different kind of killing occurred at Gombe when a female and her daughter killed and ate three infants of other females of the same community during a 2-year period. There is evidence suggesting that other infants may have died in this way. The paper draws attention to puzzling aspects of infant killing and cannibalism in chimpanzees.
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Cannibalism occurs in wild non-human primates and many other vertebrate species.
“recent careful research has shown without question that cannibalism occurs in wild non-human primates (Goodall, 1977; Nishida and Kankawa, 1985; Norikoshi, 1982), and many other vertebrate species (Elgar and Crespi , 1993).”
From Cannibalism in the Prehistoric American Southwest. Occurrence, Taphonomy, Explanation, and Suggestions for Standardized World Definition. (1995) · cites this paper as Goodall, 1977
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Cited by 254
- Authors
- Goodall, J.
- Corresponding author
- Goodall, Jane
- Venue
- Folia Primatologica
- Publisher
- Walter de Gruyter GmbH
- Published
- 1977-01-31
- Volume
- 28
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 259-282
- ISSN
- 0015-5713 (ISSN-L)
- 1421-9980
- OpenAlex
- W2051468826
- Cited by
- 254
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 41 · 2022: 20 · 2021: 17 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 4 · 2012: 6
- FWCI
- 4.39
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Folia Primatologica (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Primate Behavior and Ecology
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Animal Behavior and Reproduction
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Homicide, Infanticide, and Child Abuse
- Keywords
- chimpanzees, infanticide, cannibalism, female infanticide, intergroup aggression, Gombe National Park, primate social behavior
- MeSH terms
- Aggression, Animals, Cannibalism, Pan troglodytes, Female, Grooming, Humans, Male
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