Rating: 
Summary: Good Book.:)
Review: Threatening to some (see below reviews) is the notion that humans are -not- a special case among animals, nor among primates. While our intellect helps us toward our goals, our primative emotions, will, if we act blindly, chose what those goals are. A welcome wake-up call, a dose of reality to those who want to deal with making the world better on a nuts-and-bolts level rather than an ivory-tower academic one.
Rating: 
Summary: Our roots in reality
Review: What drives humanity to engage in its incessant wars? Why do men fight over apparent inconsequentials? Is rape a "natural" and "sex-driven" event, or merely the consequence of human cultural demands? These questions and a host of others are addressed in this superb survey of primate behaviour studies. Ever since Jane Goodall discovered chimpanzees sought colobus monkeys for dinner treats, new studies of primates have revealed arresting behaviour patterns. Like humans, other primates murder, rape and even make war. The authors have scoured a wealth of primate studies to derive a picture of our heritage. They suggest we learn what our cousins do in order to better understand what we do. Otherwise, we will continue to make bad decisions based on flawed assumptions.Our fellow primates are avid territorialists, argue the authors. Borders unseen by us are clearly delineated by chimpanzees, orangutans and monkeys. These defined areas are hotly defended. The other side of the coin produces invasions. Opportunism, failing resources, or just spite, drives chimpanzee groups to stealthily scout and enter another band's range. Rarely, an individual will stage a foray, but only if he thinks success likely. Too often, the raids appear to have no particular purpose. A sally may lead to injuries or even death, but the attacking troop is just as likely to withdraw to its original range with neither captives nor booty. What prompts these seemingly mindless assaults? Are they inevitable among primates? The latter question was answered, according to the authors, with the discovery of the "pygmy chimpanzee" or bonobo. This species contrasts sharply with its common chimpanzee cousins, who live in bands beset by tension. Common chimpanzees may raid other groups, but "back home" the hierarchical structure leads to internal conflict. Raids on other groups may vent some aggravation, but it's the struggle for dominance that rules common chimp behaviour. Bonobos, by contrast, use sex to resolve their social conflicts. Bisexual and same sex couplings are common and frequent. With no hierarchy to climb, males need not struggle for dominance. Although a senior female may wield some authority, even her "rules" are imparted by selected groomings or couplings with aggressors. Bonobos are late arrivals on the evolutionary stage, having split off from the chimpanzee line after chimps and humans diverged from their common ancestor. Humans tended in some ways toward chimpanzee behaviour, toward bonobos in other aspects. Male dominance and most aspects of male violence stem from similarities to our nearest cousins, the chimps, say the authors. They stress that most human violence is rooted in our volutionary past. Although they're prompt to deny that this foundation cannot be overcome, they stress that we must understand these roots in order to make better decisions. Most significantly, they argue, we must shed the mythology of violence as a cultural artefact. This will be a difficult step for many, but it must be taken. This book will ease the path.
[stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
Rating:
Summary: The Ape Within Us
Review: Wrangham presents some fundamental insights. Why do female gorillas stay close to their reigning silverback? Because only he can protect their babies from being killed by other silverbacks. Why do adolescent male chimpanzees intimidate every female in their group? So the youngersters will not be refused when it comes time for sex. Why do bonobos, physically similar to chimpanzees, behave in a much less violent manner? Because they evolved in a place where there were no gorillas to preempt an important food source. There are two kinds of male orang-utans, small ones that must rape to reproduce and large one that have no such need. These, and other insights, are carefully reasoned from the most recent field data. Perhaps not all of his explanations of ape behavior will stand the test of time but each of them is interesting and worth further research. The reader, male and female, is challenged into introspection: how much of the modern apes lies within our modern selves?
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating
Review: Written by one of the world's leading primate researchers, I thought this was a very interesting account of recent primate research. As a politically right-wing male, I would like to take exception to some of the comments from earlier reviewers. Wrangham & Peterson are judicious in their conclusions and, while they are certainly not afraid to extrapolate, they in no way engage in male-bashing. The authors examine the social behaviors of gorillas, chimps, orangutangs, bonobos and some other species and trace their behavior to their ecological surroundings, in particular their sources of food. They also include a couple of chapters of commentary on past myths about our prehistoric existence. The final chapter extends some of the observations to current society but (let me emphasize) in a restrained way. If nothing else, the book provides an excellent overview of current primate research. As someone who is often bored by scientific subjects, I should add that it is actually a page-turner. I marked it down to 4 stars only because of the writing, which is a mishmash of botched narrative techniques and clumsy writing. But good content conquers all.
Rating:
Summary: A look at "how it might have been"?
Review: _Demonic Males_ offers an interesting and somewhat wishful look at "how it could have been" or "how if could be" for us humans (if we evolve into or consciously choose a different way of living). This work examines two topics that we "civilized" people often find difficult to deal with--violence and sexuality. Though they do look at other species (hyenas and lions, for example), the authors' main focus is modern ape behavior and its possible relationship to human behavior. The authors outline how four of the five ape species (orangutans, chimpanzees, gorillas, and humans) engage in violent behavior that stems directly from competition for food, reproductive rights, and other resources. According to the authors' interpretation of recent ape observations, gorilla females stay with their dominant male silverback because he protects their infants from other silverbacks who won't hesitate to kill one generation of offspring to ensure the paternity of the next. Underdeveloped orangutan males regularly rape females as a result of being unattractive to females and therefore low on the reproductive "totem pole". Male chimpanzees engage in female battering and intimidation to ensure their dominance over all the females in the group. Predominantly male chimpanzee raiding parties enter neighboring chimpanzee territories, track and find isolated members of the rival group, and then seriously injure or even kill them. The authors argue that with our history of similar behaviors, humans are also a species dominated by "demonic males". (I join the authors in using extreme caution while explaining such behaviors as rape as "natural", and in no way do I imply that such behavior in humans is to be condoned in any way or written off as something over which males have no control.) The exception to this rule is the fifth ape species, the bonobo. Bonobos strongly resemble chimpanzees and are genetically very closely related to humans, but were only identified as a separate species in the early twentieth century. Bonobos evolved in an area where there was little competition for food resources. Thus, the authors argue, they were free to develop behaviors that weren't involved in assuring that any one ape got the lion's share of resources, to mix a metaphor. Bonobos have a female-dominated society, where the social position of one's mother determines the offspring's social position. Sexual behavior is used as a tension-diffusing tool, and is openly and freely practiced between both sexes and with members of the same sex. Because sex is practiced so freely, there is no way for any male to know if he is the father of any individual offspring, so violence over paternity (such as that evidenced by the gorilla) is eliminated. The result is a kinder, gentler ape. A fascinating read written in a fast-paced and easily read narrative, this book is a must-read for those interested in the connection between humans and the other apes.
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