Alex Walschots

Intro to Physical Anthropology

July 26, 2019

Blog Reflection Post #4

It has always been known that primates have been our most common ancestor. From 2 million years on, we have evolved slowly from chimps and apes and into the homo sapiens that we know ourselves to be today. Many people see animals such as primates to be simple creatures, and put humans on such a high pedestal forgetting that that is exactly where they came from. And, even though there are many physical and language differences, we are much more alike than would be first inferred. Thanks to researchers and biologists such as Jane Goodall, we have been able to open new doors of our brain to the idea that we are more like our primate ancestors (especially chimpanzees) than we can see from the naked eye.

There are many topics that surprised me from reading the slides and watching the lectures during this week’s lesson. However, discovering our similarities was the most intriguing to me. I always knew they were not too much different than us based on a physical and behavioral level, but I never truly explored the specifics of how we act. We all know that there are some similarities in the way that we look, such as opposable thumbs and the ability to walk on our hind legs, but it’s the similarities in our behavior that goes unnoticed.

One thing that surprised me the most is their use of tools. Their modification of natural objects in order to hunt and obtain food/shelter can be seen in humans too. For example, chimps use a whittled stick to poke a hole into a tree, and when pulled out many termites will stick onto it for the chimp to eat. This relates to the concept of “fishing” humans use. These sharp objects can also be used to hunt and stab prey, which is like humans and their spears used for the same purpose. It is easy to see the ways in which we evolved from these mammals, because we still utilize and build upon the tools they have been using for millions of years. 

Social life is the other huge connection between primates and humans. You can see clear relationships within chimpanzee families, including connections between mother and child and friendship among children. It takes years for a chimp to mature, much like it takes humans as well. When they are born, they find physical comfort in contact and affection from their mother, and crave this growing up as we do. It is an innate feature to crave love and affection for both primates as well as us humans. Also, we find that there are peer groups as well. As the young chimps grow older, they begin to play with other chimps close to their age and seek approval from one another. This proves that we really aren’t that far off from chimps in the way that we enjoy playing, expressing ourselves, and develop individual personalities and relationships. 

Even though there are more complexities we have noticed in humans, including the development of technologies and large structures, when you focus on core values and innate instincts, we are not that different at all.