When I came across the video below (not for the squeamish) via OneSTDV, the following passage from Nick Wade's Before the Dawn sprung to mind (p148-9):
Are we really anything more than naked apes? Our primal natures are, as Frans de Waal argues, a hybridization of chimp and bonobo. Some groups, though, more closely resemble chimps; others have more in common with bonobos.
Chimp warfare takes the form of bands of males who patrol the borders of their territory, looking for an individual of the neighboring community who has been rash enough to feed alone. ...
Chimpanzees carefully calculate the odds and seek to minimize risk, a very necessary procedure if one fights on a regular basis. They prefer to attack an isolated individual and then retreat to their own territory. ... [Researchers] find that the chimps will approach as long as they number three or more; parties of two will slink away. Three against one is the preferred odds: two to hold the victim down and a third to batter him to death.
Are we really anything more than naked apes? Our primal natures are, as Frans de Waal argues, a hybridization of chimp and bonobo. Some groups, though, more closely resemble chimps; others have more in common with bonobos.
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