APE WAR: Two Chimpanzee Clans in Uganda Violently Turn on Each Other in the First Recorded Simian Conflict – And Scientists Have No Idea Why

Monkey see, monkey do?

Sadly, when a civil war breaks in Uganda or in some other African country is hardly an unprecedented event.

But a war between two clans of apes is a whole other story.

Scientists have for the first time recorded a scary new event: Uganda’s largest wild chimpanzee community has splintered into a deadly ‘civil war’.

JUST IN: Massive chimpanzee group in Uganda has reportedly split into rival factions & descended into a deadly “civil war”

— Polymarket (@Polymarket) April 9, 2026

The Ugandan jungle has turned into a bloody battlefield in an ongoing ‘simian conflict’ detailed in a study published Thursday (9) in the journal Science.

The New York Post reported:

“’Chimps from one group began attacking and killing those from the other group and that turned into an escalated period of lethal violence’, study author Aaron Sandel, an anthropologist at the University of Texas at Austin, told Livescience.

While the late great primatologist Jane Goodall had reported of a similar ‘fissure’ 50 years ago, this marked the first time that such an intratribal schism had been researched and documented as it occurred, the Times reported, although chimp communities often compete with neighbors over land and resources.”

‘CIVIL WAR’ IN UGANDA: Chimpanzees turn on each other

Rival factions in Kibale National Park launch coordinated attacks on former group members and scientists have NO IDEA WHY

Monkeys discovering politics — beware! pic.twitter.com/ge3VgKguMk

— RT (@RT_com) April 10, 2026

“Two adult male members of the Ngogo chimpanzee group band together and chase away rivals. ‘What followed was a series of lethal attacks by the western group on members of the central group’, the researchers wrote. ‘These raids resulted in multiple killings of adult males and, beginning in 2021, expanded to frequent infanticide, averaging several deaths per year’.”

🚨 A war broke out among monkeys in Uganda.

24 monkeys were killed. pic.twitter.com/h8K434aY4s

— Cyrus Intel (@Cyrus_Intel88) April 10, 2026

The 200 members of the ape clan were close, until the late 1980’s, when a rift caused various cliques to be formed.

“By 2015, the formerly cohesive community had split into two clans that lived and reproduced separately. […] It’s yet unclear what caused the schism. However, the researchers postulated that several adult males who acted as ambassadors between different factions died, leading to strained relations and a ‘change in the male dominance hierarchy’.”

Read more: Baby Monkey Rejected by Mother Takes the Internet by Storm, and Causes People Around the World To Rejoice as ‘Punch’ is Adopted by a Family of Monkeys in Japan Zoo