War has been accompanying humans since they’ve existed. However, war is not only a human phenomenon. Warlike conflicts also appear in the animal world. The most famous ones are the wars of ants and termites. Colonies of ants swarm over other anthills and termite mounts in order to kill everything they get between their mandibles. Not only are they doing this to collect food, war also serves as a mean to gain home territory and to enslave other ant colonies. They act very precisely and perfidiously. There are species of ants that release poisonous clouds in order to kill or frighten away enemies. There are also suicides among termites, which bite on to enemies and explode so that they release poisonous substances – in protection of the colony.
Even other animals aren’t safe from ant attacks. When predatory ant colonies go hunting, they eat everything that can’t escape, no matter how defensive it is. Scorpions, spiders and even small vertebrates are swallowed up by them. According to some reports, army ants have already eaten up sleeping humans. What’s that feeling of being swamped by millions of ants that start to crawl into your nares and wind-pipe? Doesn’t sound really cool …
Let’s come to someone who’s closer to us than ants: the chimpanzee. Yes, chimpanzees also conduct war. Several groups of chimpanzees are known to extend their territories with wars. Groups of males invade home ranges of other chimpanzees, armed with sticks, stones and their fangs. They kill or repulse every chimpanzee they see. And they won’t even spare females or young animals.
Image source: http://www.morgenpost.de/web-wissen/article1329798/Schimpansen-toeten-ihre-Nachbarn-fuer-ein-Stueck-Land.html, http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/Bonobo_cincyzoo.jpg
