Evolutionary
Wrong Turn
Troglydytes and Paniscus: "....(W)hen the chimp patrol finds a lone chimp from the neighboring group, you see what looks like human gang warfare, five-on-one affairs that leave behind a dying chimp, its throat or genitals chewed out, great strips of skin pulled loose."
"The bonobo (Pan paniscus) is overthrowing established notions about where we came from and what our behavior potential is...Even though the bonobo is not our ancestor, but perhaps a rather specialized relative, its female-centered, nonbelligerent society is putting question marks all over the hypothesized evolutionary map of our species. Who could have imagined a close relative of ours in which female alliances intimate males, sexual behavior is as rich as ours, different groups do not fight but mingle, mothers take on a central role, and the greates intellectual achivement is not tool use but sensitivity to others.?" -- Frans de Waal, 1997 Evolutionary Wrong Turn
"Our unique qualities (Hominids) have been responsible for our present biological success as a species. No other large animal is native to all the continents, or breeds in all habitats from deserts and the Arctic to tropical rainforests. No large wild animal rivals us in numbers. But among our unique qualities are two that now jeapardize our existence: our propensities to kill each other and to destroy our environment. Of course, both propensities occur in other species: lions and many other animals kill their own kind, while elephants and others damage their envronment. However, these propensities are much more threatening in us than in other animals because of our technological power and exploding numbers." (Jared Diamond, The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal - 1992)
"There is nothing new about prophecies to the effect that the world's end is near if we don't repent. What's new is that this prophecy is now likely to come true, for two obvious reasons. First, nuclear weapons give us the means to wipe ourselves out quickly; no humans possessed this means before. Second, we already appropriate about 40 percent of the Earth's net productivity (i.e. the net energy captured from sunlight). With the world's human population now doubling every forty-one years, we soon shall reach the biological limit to growth, at which point we shall have to start fighting each other in dead earnest for a share of the world's fixed pie of resources. In addition, given the present rate at which we are exterminating species, most of the world's species will become extinct or endanged within the next century, but we depend on many species for our own life support." (ibid)
We are more closely related to the other two chimpanizee species, pigmy chimpanzees (bonobos) and chimpanzees. But attitudinally we more closely resenble Pan troglydytes (chimps) than we do Pan paniscus (bonobos).
The bonobo is a subspecies of chimpanzee and they can interbreed but there is no evidence that they did or their traits carried over to chimps - who do kill other chimps. The bonobo was isolated from the main body of chimps about 2 million years ago and developed differences in anatomy and behavior, enought to be considered a separate species.
"Note: I've read genetically we are closer to the Bonobo than to the chimpanzee yet in our behavior we are more like the chimpanzee. If this is correct (and I'm not saying it is) what accounts for this? Another thing to consider is the Bonobo obviously didn't develop language (symbolization) and tool skills as Homo sapiens did which allowed for technological and scientific propress. One could argue it was homo sapiens aggressiveness (dominating and conquering) which allowed human civilization to come into existence and thrive. One evolutionary psychologist stated he thought all human progress in terms of civilization was based on domination and conquering. Perhaps that was the case early on but what about now with globalization and the world awash with weapons, nuclear bombs and continuing destruction of the environment? It would seem a continuation of homo sapiens dominating and conquering would lead to unprecedented catastrophes." (Michael Ragland - sci.bio.evolution)
Chimpanzees (Pan troglydytes) and the gorilla are BOTH critically endanged from being hunted and from the Ebola virus epidemic.
The main difference between Pan troglydytes and Pan paniscus is the later (bonobos) are peaceful and chimpanzees are not and neither are Homo sapiens.
"Chimpanzee groups actually patrol the boundaries of their usual territory, lookng for all the world like an army patrol that re-forms into single file, keeps quiet, and stops occasionally to listen carefully before moving on. They may engage in shouting matches with the neighbors, judging group size, but they seldem get into battles. Yet when the chimp patrol finds a lone chimp from the neighboring group, you see what likes like human gang warfare, five-on-one affairs that leave behind a dying chimp, its throat or genitals chewed out, great strips of skin pulled loose." (William H. Calvin, A Brief History of the Mind, 2004)
(Bonobo groups are larger and they mingle peacefully when they encounter other bonobos. They have not been observed patrolling their boundaries like chimpanzees.)
Perhaps Homo sapiens took an evolutionary wrong turn?
- Hank Roth
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Today is Saturday February 04, 2012
Hank Roth (on the Internet since 1982)