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People learned to be less murderous.
Researchers from the University of Granada, Spain, discovered that even though humans are murderous creatures, civilization tamed us. Scientists wanted to calculate the rate at which more than 1 000 mammal species are killing their own kind. It is no surprise that people in the ancient times have higher rates of violence.
Most people who are watching the news would say that we are the most murderous species on this planet. However, according to the study, violence between people has reduced a lot in the modern age. The problem is that humans are violent in nature and we carry that violence in our DNA. Civilization has taught us other ways to solve arguments, but what about all the people who are killed every year?
First of all, you need to know that mammals tend to be more murderous against their own than other animals, with three killings for every 1 000 deaths. When the early humans were living, their killing rate was 20 per 1 000 deaths. The biggest problem was during the medieval era when the rate was 120 per 1 000. Those were the times when humanity was the most murderous. Not only that there were wars between countries, but also those who were caught stealing were killed. During that period you did not have to prove someone is guilty to kill him.
Things and change and humans evolved. Civilization made us wiser, more patient and now there are only 13 murders for 1000 deaths. Even though we are more peaceful, we can’t forget about the events that are happening at the moment. There are people who would kill another person in a minute, without having second thoughts. Humanity has suffered from two World Wars, slavery and terrorism. We are more civilized, but we have also discovered new weapons to kill our own kind.
What is very interesting is that mammals which were thought to be killers are more peaceful than humans. For example, the killing rate for killer whales is almost zero. On the other side, lemurs and monkeys seem to be more murderous than us.According to the researchers, related mammal species have similar violence level.
We have learned that even though modern societies have developed and have laws, the rates of violence are below what would we expect from a mammal with our intelligence and history.
Image source: Pixabay
