Murder is defined as "the unlawful premeditated killing of one human being by another."

I suppose I think it is better to call it 'killed'. The group would decide its own morals. And it seemed they decided he was a bad chimp. Harsh democracy in action, potentially.

Even if it's lovable to humanize animals (notice the avatars of Coben and mine!) and it is also honest to admit that we are animals too, yet animal "society" isn't like human society. Societies have norms, like killing other humans is murder. As the definition of murder goes, murder is an unlawful killing of another person, just as Hanover remarked already.

Ill take a crack at devils advocate here...

So the monkeys do have a social structure, they do have rules they live by similar to the laws humans live by. The alpha chimp is the king, he gets his choice of females, the other males are beta and subservient and thats the way their primitive society works. Ganging up and killing the alpha chimp is going against the order they implicitly agreed to live by. This qualifies as murder, as murder has been defined here.
So yes, it was murder.

But he was a tyrant according to the title. He was not considered fit. Basically a criminal leader.

Tyrant is a human title, something we have in our societies. The alpha male of chimps IS a tyrant. Thats how their society works. Since they acted outside that rule and killed him, it constitutes murder. Its as close to unlawful as the chimps have.

murder is a human title. And leaders can go too far.

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True, murder is a human title but we have a working definition in the thread and I think according to that the chimps committed murder.
And yes, leaders can go to far...and then they might get murdered.

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Why don't you bother to tell us what you mean by "murder. — tim wood

I put this up because I had raised it on another OP and deciding if it was murder seemed to me to require its own OP. Why didn’t I tell you what I mean by murder? because in these circumstances with the chimps I wasn’t absolutely sure. So asking for the opinions seemed like a good idea.

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I don’t think “killed” works. Animals kill for food, so do we. The tyrant chimp was killed to remove his presence. His life was taken to rid the world of him because of what/who he was.

But he was a tyrant according to the title. He was not considered fit. Basically a criminal leader. — Coben

Even if the act is directed at a tyrant it’s still murder, isn’t it? It might be justified but it’s still murder.

Tyrant is a human title, something we have in our societies. The alpha male of chimps IS a tyrant. Thats how their society works. Since they acted outside that rule and killed him, it constitutes murder. Its as close to unlawful as the chimps have. — DingoJones

It amounts to a revolutionary act that does go against their social structure. Right or wrong they decided to get rid of him. Though it’s hard to know if they decided on this. Maybe it just got out of hand. Then it might be regarded as manslaughter.

Now, if you define it that way, then end of discussion, but the question arises as to what is gained by the definition? — tim wood

This OP is related to the OP about free will and evil, whether humans have evil tendencies. If chimps commit evil acts, a tough call I admit, then it suggests evil is inherent in humans as well and not introduced by ignorance or culture.

Well, murder is criteriological. First, the standard. — tim wood

Do you really need to have a definition for murder? Is it such an unusual thing for you to think about?

I think I agree.

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Do you really need to have a definition for murder?
— Brett
Yes, if I'm to understand what you're talking about. — tim wood

You know what murder is.

But you seem to think it's ridiculously simple and easy — tim wood

No I don’t think that at all.
I don’t think chimpanzee behaviour is human. I’m trying to find commonalities in primates.

Murder is defined as "the unlawful premeditated killing of one human being by another." — Hanover

Do you think there might have been premeditated feeling of hatred in those chimps that attacked the tyrant chimp? Hatred is a lot different than acts of aggression to defining territory or other ideas of ownership. Hatred isn’t necessary to kill for food. I can’t claim they were full of hatred but something led to this collective action.

As the definition of murder goes, murder is an unlawful killing of another person, just as Hanover remarked already. — ssu

Laws against killing were introduced after, or as a result of, the killings. They were a response. So in some ways the law doesn’t really define murder that well. How would it be defined without the help of the law?

Actually, just looking at that photo makes me think of murder. I don’t need any intellectual definition.

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No. I can’t be bothered.

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What on earth is wrong with you?

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But of all of this you had not an inkling, not a thought: it never occurred to you. So you cannot be bothered. Don't waste our time! — tim wood

Sorry, I meant I can’t be bothered with you. You’re like a mosquito, you spend your whole life looking for ankles to bite.

International Journal of Primatology
April 1992, Volume 13, Issue 2, pp 209–212 | Cite as
Understanding behavior. What primate studies tell us about human behavior
Edited by James D. Loy and Calvin B. Peters. Oxford University Press, New York and Oxford, 1991,ix+264 pp., $49.95 (hardcover)

This is not such a big stretch.