Politcal Animals (who are not us)

This article in the New York Times, describes the 'politics' of animals such as monkeys, elephants and whales based on fairly new observations in the wild. This kind of article reinforces the fact that humans are in the continuum of animal behavior and not some distinct branch. For modern humans, this quote says it all:

“The paradox of a highly social species like rhesus monkeys and humans is that our complex sociality is the reason for our success, but it’s also the source of our greatest troubles,” he said. “Throughout human history, you see that the worst problems for people almost always come from other people, and it’s the same for the monkeys. You can put them anywhere, but their main problem is always going to be other rhesus monkeys.”