Earth largest chimpanzee community has fractured and is now engaged in a deadly civil war. For thirty years scientists closely monitored the Ngogo chimpanzee community in Ugandas Kibale National Park. This exceptionally large group of around 200 individuals gained international fame through the Netflix documentary series Chimp Empire. During the first two decades of observation these primates lived in relative harmony grooming foraging and defending their territory together. A new study published in the journal Science however reveals that the once unified community has permanently divided. Beginning around 2015 a combination of key elder male deaths shifts in social hierarchy and a severe disease outbreak led to a complete split into Western and Central factions by 2018. Researchers describe the aftermath as an unprecedented slow motion civil war marked by extreme brutality. Members of the smaller Western group initiated coordinated lethal raids against their former companions in the Central group. Between 2018 and 2024 observers documented at least 24 killings including seven adult males and 17 infants. As one of humanity closest living relatives chimpanzees offer valuable insights into the roots of collective violence. This rare event estimated to occur naturally only once every 500 years illustrates how group dynamics and polarization can fuel lethal conflict even without human style political or ideological motivations. [Sandel, A. A., et al. (2026). Lethal conflict after group fission in wild chimpanzees. Science, 392(6794), 216 DOI: 10.1126/science.adq1234]

The twin chimney blowdown at Cockenzie Power Station, Scotland was probably one of the most choreographic implosions.