except for n the case of male dominance. those fights are usually to the death. or the national explorer channel is showing the nth degree for ratings.
You got it. Obviously horned animals fighting for dominance occasionally gore each other and the loser dies, but as a whole, murder is unheard of in the animal kingdom, except for humankind.
... one possible exception might be cuckoo nestlings throwing out their competing chicks of their hosts, but they are killing another species, not their own.
Actually Toms kill kittens quite often. Male lions kill cubs and male chimpanzees kill babies that they did not sire, to bring their mothers into season again.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infanticide_(zoology)
I should have said "almost" unheard of.
I did not mean that there are no exceptions, when you consider millions of species, and I also mentioned the defenseless young are often killed and eaten. Seriously though, do you see or hear of fights to the death between competitive animals - two lions of comparable size or two tomcats of similar capabilities?
Chimps are very intelligent and are very similar to us, so I would expect similar behaviors. Chimps do fight to the death, occasionally and especially if there is a family unit battling another. Dogs and cats are very intelligent also. Is it intelligence that fosters murder? I think it may be so.
My only point was that, in the animal kingdom, two animals that are similarly matched in abilities, rarely kill one another. One (almost) always backs down and there is no grudge. Humans, on the other hand do it quite often, by comparison, and with malice.
My original comment in response to ducks killing each other. i've lived around ducks all my life. They do not murder each other.