General Discussion

as human beings, we have a conscience and should be beyond massive killings in war and murderous, abusive behavior at any time. We want to believe that we have a higher nature that is above that sort of thing.

There are animals that do kill even members of their own species. When a male lion takes over a pride after the pride's male has died, the new male kills off any cubs fathered by the previous male.

Jane Goodall documented horrific battles to the death between separate troops of chmps. They did not just fight to dominate a territory. The winning troop killed off every every single adult male and female and all of the offspring in the defeated troop. She also reported on some females who killed the infants of other females and fed the murdered infants to their own offspring. Other chimps did object and in the future after such incidents, came to the aid of any mother whose infant was endangered by the cannibalistic mother.

We like to believe that we are more evolved than that. And many, hopefully most of us, are. That's why we prosecute such behavior as crimes. But human beings do have both a higher, altruistic nature and a lower, base nature.