Our Inner Ape

[kerry]

Went to a lecture tonight by Frans De Waal. He's a primatologist who recently published the book Our Inner Ape. Absolutely spellbinding material. He correlates human social and political behavior with that of other apes, mostly Chimps and Bonobos. He finds human behavior rooted in the very diverse social behaviors of our nearest relatives, the chimps and bonobos. Coincidently, also at the lecture was a very good old friend of mine who first introduced me to anarcho-syndicalism and told me I should read Kropotkin. Kropotkin was one of the first modern scientists to interpret human social and political behavior in connection with other cooperative species.

The book looks good, but if you have a chance to hear De Waal, don't pass it up. He's an engaging public speaker and a creative experimenter. He was able to test responses to labor markets in apes.

[Ara T.]

In my Anthro class we saw footage of chimps, gorillas, bonobos, etc...

The bonobos were pretty interesting, instead of clawing each other they'd do the nasty. We homo sapiens could learn a lot from bonobos.

[kerry]

Originally Posted by Ara T.

In my Anthro class we saw footage of chimps, gorillas, bonobos, etc...

The bonobos were pretty interesting, instead of clawing each other they'd do the nasty. We homo sapiens could learn a lot from bonobos.

They're definitely of the 'godless' variety when it comes to doing the nasty. Waal had footage of them doing it while eating dinner. Females are dominant in the Bonobo, not so in Chimps.
He has an interesting analysis of how an older Alpha male chimp, out of power, sponsors an up and coming younger chimp and together they overtake the existing dominant male. He then shows a picture of Cheney and Bush.

[Ara T.]

Most startling discovery in that class was how violent chimps are, we always see em on TV clowning around, but they'll form their little war bands and hunt down chimps that arent supposed to be in their territory, not to mention hunt and kill colobus monkeys for the fun of it-and the protein.

[kerry]

Originally Posted by Ara T.

Most startling discovery in that class was how violent chimps are, we always see em on TV clowning around, but they'll form their little war bands and hunt down chimps that arent supposed to be in their territory, not to mention hunt and kill colobus monkeys for the fun of it-and the protein.

He talked about the brutality of Chimps but was arguing that emphasizing the brutal side of humans by rooting our behavior in our connections with Chimps, needs to be balanced by also rooting our behavior in the 'hippie' Bonobos. He suggested that we have some genetic material on common with Bonobos that give us our more social and less violent side.

He did an interesting experiment on the awareness of 'fairness' in Capuchin monkeys. They like cucumbers but prefer grapes. Put two monkeys next to each other and require a task that is rewarded by cucumber and they both will eat it. If you reward one with a grape and the other with a cucumber, the monkey will reject the cucumber, because they are aware they are being 'cheated' because the other monkey is getting the grape. Very interesting stuff.

[cmac2012]

Speaking of the brutal side of chimps -- don't know how widely this story was carried nationwide but a man here in Cal. was severely, and I mean severely, mauled by two male chimps at a sanctuary last March. He and his wife were visiting a chimp they had raised from a baby and kept for about 25 years before the state made them send him to the sanctuary after it had bitten a female deputy's finger off.

The two males involved had managed to escape and apparently were jealous of the birthday cake the couple had brought for their chimp.

I've read that chimps are an estimated 3 to 4 times stronger than humans (!?!) in upper body strength, and this at a weight of 140 lbs.

I guess the ones that look so cute in movies are still babies or close to it. Moral of this tale: steer clear of adult chimps.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/03/04/national/main678061.shtml

[el presidente]

As we are smarter than chimps, we should attempt to exploit them as a substitute for human labor....landscaping jobs, picking up garbage, harvesting, etc. A fortune could be saved!

[el presidente]

Originally Posted by kerry edwards

He then shows a picture of Cheney and Bush.

Ha ha ha.....

Aps's are godless, did he illustrate the link between chimps and hippies too?

[A264172]

Originally Posted by narwhal

Chimp tastes like chicken.

That works out better than claiming to be familiar with the taste of bonobos.

[cmac2012]

Originally Posted by el presidente

As we are smarter than chimps, we should attempt to exploit them as a substitute for human labor....landscaping jobs, picking up garbage, harvesting, etc. A fortune could be saved!

Amazing how strong they are -- 3 to 4 times humans. They'd be great for work if you could avoid having them chew your face off when they got pissed off.

Originally Posted by cmac2012

Amazing how strong they are -- 3 to 4 times humans. They'd be great for work if you could avoid having them chew your face off when they got pissed off.

Chimney work would be a cinch.

[cmac2012]

I'm still trying to figure out how to transplant some 'o that strength to my li'l bod. It's too late for it, but one of my favorite fantasies was to be a white guy, 190 lbs and whooping Mike Tyson in every way he had coming.

And making a few mil at it to boot.

[Botnst]

I like monkeys.

The pet store was selling them for 5 cents apiece. I thought this was unusual since they were normally a few thousand dollars. I decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth so I bought two hundred of them. I like monkeys.

I took my two hundred monkeys home. I have a big car. I let one of them drive. His name was Sigmund. He was retarded. In fact none of them were very bright. They kept punching themselves in the genitals. I laughed. They punched me in the genitals. I stopped laughing.

I herded them into my room. They didn't adapt too well to their new environment. They would screech and hurl themselves off the couch at high speeds and slam into the wall. Although humorous at first, the spectacle lost its novelty halfway into its third hour.

Two hours later I found out why all the monkeys were so inexpensive; they all died. No apparent reason. They all just dropped dead. Kinda like when you buy a goldfish and five hours later it dies. God damn cheap monkeys.

I didn't know what to do. There were two hundred dead monkeys lying all over my room, on the bed, in the dresser, hanging from my bookcase. It looked like I had 200 throw rugs. I tried to flush one down the toilet. It didn't work. It got stuck. Then I had one dead, wet monkey and one hundred ninety-nine dead, dry monkeys.

I tried to pretend that they were just stuffed animals. That worked for awhile, that is until they began to decompose. It started to smell really bad.

I had to pee but there was a dead monkey in my toilet and I didn't want to call a plumber. I was embarrassed.

I tried to slow down the decomposition by freezing them. Unfortunately there was only enough room for two at a time, so I had to change them out every 30 seconds. I also had to eat all the food so it didn't go bad.

I tried to burn them, but I didn't know that my bed was flammable. I had to extinguish the flames.

Then I had one dead, wet monkey in my toilet, two dead, frozen monkeys in my freezer, and one hundred ninety-seven dead, charred monkeys in a pile on my bed. The odor wasn't improving.

I became agitated at my inability to dispose of the dead monkeys and I really had to use the bathroom. So I went and severely beat one of the monkeys. I felt better.

I tried throwing them away but the garbage man said that the city was not allowed to dispose of charred primates. I told him I had a wet one. He couldn't take it either. I didn't bother asking about the frozen ones.

I finally arrived at a solution. I gave them out as Christmas presents. My friends pretended to like them, but I could tell they were lying. Ingrates. So I punched them in the genitals.

I like monkeys.

Kerry, this is amazing stuff. Since Ape's don't practice religion you can only theorize that Homosapiens that practice religion are higher on the evolutionary scale than Homosapiens that do not.

Feeling superior.