I find it very interesting to think about the ways which we can observe behavior of non human primates and apply them to humans. When looking at the phylogenetic tree it is easy to see how branched humans may be from some non human primates. From a visual perspective, humans appear much different from even chimpanzees, who we share over 98% of common DNA with. With that much in common there has to be much to learn and many similar behaviors that were passed on from a common ancestor.

When reading the article about chimpanzees participating in attacks on neighboring groups, I initially thought that this was something that all animals do. As I continued to read and saw that members split from one group and went to another and thats why they were attacking each other, I began to think more about it. I thought about how issues like this happen in human societies and why humans may act a certain way. I thought that animals just attacked others without a purpose because it was their “animal” instinct. To read that this attack was meant for a specific chimpanzee was surprising and I think it has a lot to offer about the way humans may act. This was an example of a war which is something that humans unfortunately also participate in. As we continue to become more civilized and place more of an emphasis on resolving conflicts peacefully, it seems that war is something we still turn to. When we observe some of our closely related non primates, we may be able to draw the conclusion that this is an innate behavior that humans use to resolve conflicts.

I think there is still much to be learned about our behavior and biology from primates. It would be interesting to see why some groups of similar species act differently than other groups. When listening to the lecture, it stood out to me that Bonobos act much differently than other chimpanzees, even though they belong to the same species. Bonobos are much more calm and exhibit behaviors similar to humans such as mating for pleasure and mother child relationships. I would be curious to see how Bonobos would interact with other groups of chimpanzees to see if they would retaliate and act viciously towards them. It would also be interesting to research which aspects of their society attributed to them being calmer and much different than the other chimpanzees. I think we could apply some of the information learned from what causes them to act a certain way and see if those principles apply to humans.

Essentially we are very closely related to our primate relatives and I believe there is a lot that can be learned from them. I think studying their behavior and interactions especially within their society can shed light on a lot of information about our interactions. Our primate relatives can help us discover whether certain behaviors such as developing societies are common to all primates. This is a very interesting concept that I would love to research more.