Why a chimp 'civil war' shows how societies collapse

Why a chimp 'civil war' shows how societies collapse

From Short Wave by NPR

April 24, 2026 · 14 min

About this episode

The episode discusses a conflict among chimpanzees observed by Jane Goodall and its implications for understanding societal collapse in humans.

In the mid-1970s, primatologist Jane Goodall witnessed something that changed her opinion of chimpanzees forever: A four-year conflict amongst the chimpanzees she was studying in Tanzania. Chimpanzees that knew each other started killing each other. It was essentially the primate equivalent of a civil war. And now, it’s happening again: Fighting within the largest known community of chimpanzees. NPR science correspondent Nate Rott helps us break down what’s going on and what it could tell us about how human communities can fall apart. Read all of Nate’s story here . Interested in more science? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org . Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave . See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy

People in this episode

Guest: Nate Rott

Topics covered

  • chimpanzees
  • societal collapse
  • conflict
  • primate behavior
  • human communities

Keywords

  • chimp civil war
  • Jane Goodall
  • Nate Rott
  • Tanzania
  • societal collapse
  • primate conflict
  • human behavior

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: NPR

Places: Tanzania

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