10 Reasons the Planet of the Apes Could Actually Happen

Apes Are Super Smart!

Intelligence can be measured in a variety of ways. Many different factors make up human intellect, and most of them are clearly superior to those of an ape. But researchers have found that chimps, in particular, perform far better in many other areas.

Chimps Are Known to Make War with Each Other

At 26, Jane Goodall entered the world of chimpanzees at the Gombe Stream National Park in what would later become the eastern African country of Tanzania. She was astonished to discover that they had the ability to make and utilize tools from grass and twigs. She was also shocked to find that they systematically hunted, killed, and ate smaller primates such as the colobus monkey

Chimps Waging War on Gorillas

While it’s been certainly documented that chimpanzees don’t always treat their neighbors well, up until recently, they’ve basically picked on their own kind. But at the Loango National Park in Gabon, they’ve recently been targeting gorillas.

Chimps Waging War Against Man

Due to habitat loss through deforestation, the chimpanzees of western Uganda are frequently clashing with the local human population, and the apes are mainly picking on the most defenseless—the children! In 2014, in the village of Kyamajaka, an adult chimp jumped a fence into a family’s garden and kidnapped a two-year-old child. Villagers ran after them, but before they could retrieve the boy, the chimp had torn off one of the child’s arms and ripped out his kidneys. The child died on the way to the hospital.

Don’t Pick a Fight with a Chimp

Chimpanzees are our closest relatives of all the primates, as we share 98.8% of our DNA with them. And that other 1.2% must contain an awful lot of fighting genes because a ticked-off adult chimp can be brutal! A large male can weigh in at up to 68 kilograms (150 pounds) and reach a standing height of over 1.6 meters (five feet), and these fellas are about 1.5 times stronger than the average man.

The Dark Nature of the Beast

As intelligent, social, and frolicsome as they generally can be, it is an enigma of chimpanzee nature that they can also turn on a dime into horrible killing machines—with little regard toward previous relationships. Alpha males and elders carry a lot of weight in chimp communities, giving directives and passing down knowledge to the other males of the group. But let them grow unpopular, and they risk being ostracized, beaten, and even brutally murdered.

The Gift of Gab

As early as the 1930s, primatologists attempted to teach lab apes sign or symbolic languages, and their research certainly got a lot of hype in the press during the ’70s and ’80s. However, contemporary linguists look back upon the results of these projects and are not very impressed. The scientists involved in these projects claimed monumental results in the study of language development. Naysayers have since pointed out that the apes were merely performing “monkey see, monkey do,” and for a treat to boot!

Chimps Entering the Stone Age

There seems to be some contention in the scientific community whether or not chimpanzees have entered the Stone Age. They often crack nuts with rocks and, as mentioned above, also know how to hurl them at enemies. Furthermore, in the Ivory Coast, archaeologists have discovered evidence of stone hammers that would not only fit the hands of chimps but were also covered with residue from nuts they, not people, eat

A Simian God?

Do apes believe in God? Should we accept the notion that humans are the only creatures on Earth with spirituality? Until recently, that has been the empirical belief of both religious and secular communities and perhaps the main division that separates mankind from the rest of the animal kingdom. But in recent times, chimpanzees have been seen performing ritualistic behaviors which indicate a prototypical form of religion. And where there are religious rituals, there is a belief in a god, or perhaps a creator or a prophet—at least someone who is watching from above.

Are We Creating the Forbidden Zone?

According to climate experts, 2021 was the hottest year since 2015, even with La Niña bringing cold water to the Pacific. And extreme weather is on the rise globally. Despite widespread belief to the contrary, scientific analysis shows that the increasingly volatile temperatures and storm systems plaguing our world would be impossible without taking into account the contribution of humans. Global deforestation is also on the rise, with a 33% increase in the Amazon between January and October of 2021, adding up to an alarming 2.4 million acres of rainforest being decimated.