They're so cute!

Via Matt Yglesias*, we find out that Chimpanzees are killing other primates with spears**. This, I think, leads to two conclusions that are becoming more and more obvious in regards to Chimpanzees in particular, and perhaps large primates in general. They are an awful lot like us, and they aren't very nice.
Despite the chimps not living up to their cuddly image, this study should probably strengthen the argument that these animals deserve at least some fairly basic rights. Their brains clearly function very similarly to ours, there is no reason to think they have any less ability to feel pain, they have complex social arrangements, they communicate and socialize in ways similar to humans, and many people who have spent any time with them will will attest to the complexity of their emotions. It's hard to think of a philosophical justification (aside from "they have no soul") for completely disregarding their wellbeing. No group of great apes breeding in the wild has managed to avoid the endangered species list, and things aren't looking so hot for them. It would be a real tragedy if any of our cousins went extinct, even if they do spend their time attacking each other with sharpened branches.

And isn't there a Michael Chrichton book about this?

* Read Matt's comment thread for many chimpanzee/spear jokes.
** The people who did the study didn't photograph or videotape any of this, so I'm inclined to take it with a grain of salt for now.