The movements, habits, socializations, ways of learning of non-human primates all show the similarities in behavior between these animals and humans. For example, humans and primates have been studied many times and shown to have similar learning styles. We as mammals have large, efficient, sharp brains. We have less instinctual or “preprogrammed” skills compared to other orders of animals, so we rely heavily on learned behavior. This can be a disadvantage because it takes time to learn which means more time to grow up which means more time and energy devoted by the parents to raising their young. Another similarity that goes along with this is the tendency towards emotional intimacy and physical connection, especially between parents and children. This is caused by our reliance on learning so mothers and children spend a considerable amount of time together. Experiments have been done that show that even as babies, monkeys and other primates crave care and interaction. Monkeys who had been raised without a caring mother were not able to interact properly with other monkeys as adults, mate or, when artificially inseminated, able to care for their young. This reminded me of an experiment I had heard about from a teacher – it was done in Russia and orphan babies were given all the food, sleep and medical attention they needed, however they were never held or played with, and almost of the babies died. I find this connection with primates interesting because it distinguishes us from other orders of animals.
In terms of socialization we share many of the same qualities and behaviors with primates. The lecture poses the question: why do we live in a group? Intuitively it may not make sense because in the wild wouldn’t we compete against our own species for resources, food and territory? Darwin offers a few explanations. By being in a group, non-human primates are safer from predators than they are alone. The second reason for primates living together is food access. Food is most easily accessed when there are a large number of eyes looking for it and it is better protected by a group than by individuals. The last aspect of group living is sex. This is fairly obvious – individuals must physically be together in order to reproduce. The way animals chose their mates and approach sex shows an incredible similarity with humans. Females are picky about their mate because they will put a substantial amount of time into their pregnancy and raising their child. Males however are evolutionarily focused more on quantiy than quality…
This is true in humans. If a man has sex with 100 women he can potentially cause 100 pregnancies in a year. However, a woman can have sex with 100 men and produce one pregnancy. This fact sheds light on how males and females approach sex in both humans and non-humans.
There are also many physical traits that we share with primates and we can better understand how we evolved looking at what advantages non-human primates have by having certain traits. For example, there are two similarities in vision : binocular stereoscopic vision and color vision. Binocular stereoscopic vision means that our eyes have overlapping fields which allows for detailed depth perception. This is important for non-human primates because they are largely tree dwellers. Having vision that can take overlapping fields and provide a singular, 3D image, is advantageous to climbing and maneuvering through the forest. Color vision is similarly advantageous; being able to see light and color is important in being able to detect where the sun is and where dark spaces are.