Interspecific continuity of normative systems (the end of the paradigm of human exceptionalism)

After fifteen years observing a troop of western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla) outside their natural habitat under human care we believe we can demonstrate that gorillas govern their behavior and social interactions by norms functionally equivalent to legal norms that pursue group stability and social peace maintenance and can be "translated" into concepts created for legal science. Consequently, we conclude that also in the legal sciences and, especially, in the juridicial-criminal science, the paradigm of human exceptionality must be overcome to open the doors to reflect on the possibility of establishing the paradigm of continuity between human and non-human normative systems.