The idea of primatology is so complex. We look at our ancestors and our close relatives the apes and chimpanzees and see so many similar characteristics. It is crazy to think about through millions of years of evolution that the homo sapiens has evolved from the same walks of life. Watching the human origins videos on the page “What it means to be human”, we see such similar traits such as walking on legs, crawling on all fours when a child, holding our young, using tools, but only humans primarily walk on two legs which makes us unique. And even though humans are primates, the way we use our tools are much more unique and much more sophisticated than our fellow primates making us unique as well. In addition to unique human traits we have a word of mouth comprising of different noises and words that can convey much more complex concepts.
I believe we can better understand our own biology, behavior, and culture, just by studying non-human primates in many ways. Looking at our ancestors we can breakdown these kinds of prehistoric behavioral patterns we see in our fellow primates that exemplify basic societal actions. For example, in our lecture notes we went over the idea of why animals live in groups. Whether it be the dilution effect or for ease of sex or even for the most valuable resource food. We can take a step back as anthropologists and see how primitive behavior around mating systems revolved around the importance of food. It is also interesting to note that even though our DNA in the video was said to be only 1.5% different from our closest ancestor the chimpanzee, we have developed in such a different way in these 2 million years. It is interesting to note how the evolution of humans just within these small portions of DNA strands have created a whole new advanced species while at the same time these chimpanzees have yet to evolve in any similar matter.
It was also interesting to read the article from slate.com on the witnessing of chimpanzees at war. I found it interesting that these chimpanzees could differentiate each other from a northern monkey to a southern monkey. It read as almost a genocidal action from the northern chimpanzees basically hunting down and killing all of these southern adult males, taking their females and their territory. It seems crazy as well that they recently all belonged to the same group or society. It is interesting on how territorial and violent all primates can get when there is a divide in the idea of race. Just as how humans try and differentiate ourselves from others in geographical regions it seems as though non-human primates do the same. I believe that if we can look and study the somewhat simplistic social behaviors of non-human primates, we can apply it to our own behaviors and extrapolate onto it in a more complex way.
I agree with a lot of your own conclusions and found that I had made some similar ones in my own blog post. I also found the idea that these creatures truly possess a concept of war to be quite intriguing. This can help affirm our own conceptualized ideas of what particular behaviors and actions we share with other creatures. The idea that the chimpanzees possess the concept of vendettas and grudges, means that we can study them to an even greater degree in order to determine how it is such behaviors can be constructed or utilized. I don’t know if its just me but judging by your blog post, it appears as though you also find the social divides and behaviors of the creatures to be quite fascinating.
James,
Something sort of silly I thought about when reading your blog post from this week’s lesson on primatology reminded me of just last night, when I was watching a Jurassic Park marathon (okay, but those are some good movies even if some of the facts are off or wrong). In the (3rd?) movie, Dr. Grant, who is a paleontologist, says that the velociraptor very well could have been the dominant species in the world if they did not go extinct, and give way to humans. The reason I thought about this was because you mentioned the idea of humans emerging from apes as crazy in your opening remarks. I also think it is mind-blowing to imagine that by luck, fortune, and the right recipe of traits, characteristics, and brains throughout time and place, we got to be where we are now.
Hello! It was really easy to follow your blog post this week. The “What it means to be human” short clip videos also caught my attention to the topic and kind of organize ideas that I had known and haven’t in short time. I liked how they described what makes human different from non-human primates in terms of using tools that humans use tools to create better tools, because I had exact same thought to distinguish animals and human before watch the video clip. I agree to your idea that we can learn better about our own biology, behaviour pattern, and culture by studying non-human primates in many ways. I also had interest the fact that that only 1.5% different from our closest ancestor the chimpanzee, and two different primates had lived in different ways and for 2 million years becoming two different kinds of primate species.
I love what you focus on in your discussion of this weeks topic! I think that learning from other non-human primates is extremely beneficial for us as humans. The example you give about why animals live in groups is a topic that could help humans understand communities better. When learning about the topics this week and discussing the importance of animals living in groups I thought about how important it is for humans to also live in groups. Having a support system for emotional support, resource support, financial support, or whatever it may be, is really helpful for humans. Having people to rely on and people that one can trust can help during difficult times. This is also the case for animals as we learned. If the food were scarce for example, being in a group and having more members hunting and gathering would be more beneficial than being alone trying to fend for oneself. This is just one important lesson we can learn from studying non-human primates.