Sep 18, 2014 10:51 AM EDT By Russell Westerholm, UniversityHerald Reporter

A new study suggests chimpanzees are inherently violent and that killing amongst their own does not come from human interference.

According to BBC News, scientists have long believed that primates became more violent due to human interaction. However, it is only chimpanzees that share humans' aggressive tendencies.

The new study is published in the journal Nature and gathers from 30 different authors' 426 combined years of examination in a total of 18 different chimp populations. 152 murders took place during the course of the study and the study authors witnessed 58 while deducing the rest after investigation.

"Humans have long impacted African tropical forests and chimpanzees, and one of the long-standing questions is if human disturbance is an underlying factor causing the lethal aggression observed," study co-author Dr. David Morgan, a research fellow with the Lester E Fisher Center for the Study and Conservation of Apes at Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, said in a press release. "A key take-away from this research is that human influence does not spur increased aggression within or between chimpanzee communities."

The researchers took into account the differences in various communities and also examined the circumstances in which violent crimes occur, BBC News reported. For example, they discovered that violent crimes are likely to occur when a patrolling chimp comes upon a fellow from a nearby community. The researchers then concluded that human interaction had little effect on various communities' murder rates.

"Wild chimpanzee communities are often divided into two broad categories depending on whether they exist in pristine or human disturbed environments," Morgan said. "In reality, however, human disturbance can occur along a continuum and study sites included in this investigation spanned the spectrum. We found human impact did not predict the rate of killing among communities.

"The more we learn about chimpanzee aggression and factors that trigger lethal attacks among chimpanzees, the more prepared park managers and government officials will be in addressing and mitigating risks to populations particularly with changing land use by humans in chimpanzee habitat."

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