论嗜杀物种

包括黑猩猩在内的很多物种的动物都经常杀害同类。这些事实再次引起了关于进化过程中形成的生物特性是否影响着以及如何影响着人类好战的倾向等问题的讨论。要讨论这方面的问题,需要区分动物的两类暴力行为,即“猎杀”与“斗杀”。猎杀是猎食者对无助的动物的攻击。小群的黑猩猩或游动性的狩猎—采集者有时会杀死邻近社群的竞争对手。现有的资料表明,由这种群间攻击导致的死亡在总的死亡率中所占的比例与人类与黑猩猩这两个物种大致相同。这方面行为的普遍性说明这两个物种都存在进化过程中形成的致命的暴力行为,其认知能力也适应了成功地进行杀戮的需要。

Killer Species

Many species regularly kill their own, including chimpanzees. These facts have re-opened the questions of whether and how human evolutionary biology has affected our propensity for war. In addressing this problem it is useful to separate two styles of animal violence, i.e. "predatory kills" and "lethal battles." Predatory kills are attacks on helpless victims. Among chimpanzees and nomadic hunter-gatherers, small groups sometimes kill rivals from neighboring communities; current data indicate that death rates from this style of intergroup aggression are approximately equal in the two species. The pervasiveness of this pattern suggests that both species have had an evolutionary history of lethal violence, and are cognitively adapted for successful killing.