During this week’s lectures and videos, I learned a lot about how similar we truly are to non-human primates; such as chimpanzees, bonobos, and more. Additional, by studying them we can expand our knowledge on evolution. I found the article titled, “What is War Good for? Ask a Chimpanzee” by Erin Wayman to very fascinating! Under the title, it says, “What apes and monkeys can teach us about the roots of human aggression.” The article begins with a story about a group of male chimpanzees attacking their male neighbor chimp. Then they mentioned the four-year war, which consisted of the males from the north attacking and killing adult males of the south. The north was getting control over the southerner’s territory and females. Also, the article uses spider monkeys as an example to conclude fission-fusion societies are a reason violence is expressed. Breaking a community into two groups creates an imbalance. Larger and small groups form from this and fight for resources. Typically, the larger group will dominant over the smaller group and gain the resources. All kinds of animals want the same thing: more land, more resources, and control. Humans do experience different levels of aggression that often have to do with their emotions towards the situation. The violent act can be anywhere from a slap to death. Humans have started and ended wars to gain control over others’ land, giving them access to their enemies’ resources as well as superiority.

One thing that stuck out to me in this article is that scientists claim that violence is in our DNA, which goes all the way back to our early ancestors. I am not sure how I feel towards this fact because a part of me does not want to believe this is true, but part of me does. I think that everyone can get a temper, but how people choose to express this anger varies. Certain individuals may choose to deal with a conflict using their hands, while others only use their words. The article stated, “These examples show how similar social and ecological factors may have allowed spider monkeys and chimpanzees to independently evolve a capacity for violence through convergent evolution. That doesn’t mean these primates are programmed to attack. Variation within and between species demonstrates how flexible their behavior is, responding to different circumstances as they arise.” Therefore, does that not mean we are not programmed to be violent either?

Furthermore, those short videos called, “What Does It Mean to Be Human?” were interesting to watch! The videos helped me visualize how alike we are to other primates with the way we walk, the way we use tools, our social lives, and language and symbols. The language and symbols one stood out to me the most. From this video, I learned that gorilla, orangutans, and chimpanzees can learn sign language! To me, that is very cool!

Overall, I always knew that we acted similarly to certain animals compared to others, but I never knew to what extent the similarities went. It is very interesting that humans, chimpanzees, and spider monkeys have the same reason as to why they engage in certain behaviors. By conducting further studies on non-human primates, I think we could improve our knowledge of the reason behind our behavior, biology, and culture. It can enable us to dive deeper into understanding what the motives behind the behaviors are. We can compare how living in different environments can affect the outcome of our actions and mindset. We know there are variables that encourage aggression and some that suppress, but maybe further studies could help us conclude what factors affect our behavior more and what affect it less. Plus, we can learn about how our ancestors interacted with each other and how that may be different from today. It can show us how we have evolved.