Academic literature on the topic 'Wild and language-trained chimpanzee behaviour'

Our close relatives, chimpanzees, are known at times to be violent and aggressive. This chapter acknowledges the presence of violence, but challenges the common perception that killing is somehow ‘natural’ to our species. The chapter discusses the capacity for violence and aggression in chimpanzees as it relates to specific types of human violence. How far and to what extent did the first humans begin to show an inordinate capacity for organized violence and cruelty? How should biblical accounts of violence, animal sacrifice, and cruelty be interpreted in the light of this evidence? Treating humans as if they were animals is a way of degrading them and denying their humanity in biblical texts. Humans have the capacity to identify with their species and use misappropriated language towards other, often domesticated, species in a way that is deliberately cruel. The chapter will argue that the capacity for warfare and cruelty in humans does not simply build on aggressive behaviour found in other animal societies or towards other animals, but involves instead a deliberative and cooperative capacity that is highly distinctive for our lineage. Such insights need to be qualified in the light of capacities for reconciliation and, with the onset of warfare, strategic peacefare.