It is said that the humanoid existence begins in Africa. It is no coincidence that Africa is also the home to Chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes, and Bonobos, Pan paniscus. These are humans’ two closest living relatives, both sharing almost 99% of the human genome through common descent. While humans were said to have separated from Chimpanzees around 5-7 million years ago , Bonobos separated from its Chimp cousins around 2 million years ago . Bonobos inhabit a single part of Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo South of the Congo River, unlike the Chimpanzee, which inhabits Across West- and Central Africa, with remaining populations distributed over several countries. While these two apes where once thought to be the same species, up until the beginning of the 20th century , there are many differences socially, as well as physically, that make Bonobos more than a Pygmy Chimp. With disparities in morphology, behavior, perhaps even emotions and cognition, and known as the “make love, not war chimp” , how can this ape be so vastly different from its notoriously violent Pan cousin, but yet share the same amount of similar DNA to Homo sapiens? And what does this mean for the studies of human and past humanoid behavior?
Physiology
With a 99.6% genetic similarity to Chimpanzees , the physical appearance of Bonobos is very similar to them. The length of the legs, in proportion to the arms, Bonobo’s dark faces, pink lips, and more slender stature are just some of the cosmetic differences between them and Chimpanzees. Bonobos are notorious for their bipedalism, walking upright. Granted Chimpanzees can preform bipedalism when needed, but do not match the ease and grace of the Bonobo. With their habitat staying more constant, sense the forma...
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...er after birth than the common Chimpanzee, and unlike sterile and young Chimpanzees, Bonobos who can’t conceive still engage in sexual activities.
Aggression and Territoriality
Chimpanzees are known for their aggression.
Works Cited
Balcombe, Jonathan Peter (2011). The Exultant Ark: A Pictorial Tour of Animal Pleasure. University of California Press. p. 88 de Waal, Frans B. M. (March 1995). "Bonobo Sex and Society" (PDF). Scientific American 272 (3): 58–64.Infanticide in Primates." Infanticide in Primates. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Nov. 2013
Manson, J.H.; Perry, S.; Parish, A.R. (1997). "Nonconceptive Sexual Behavior in Bonobos and Capuchins". International Journal of Primatology 767–86
White F. (1996) "Comparative socio-ecology of Pan paniscus", pp. 29–41 in: McGrew WC, Marchant LF, Nishida T (eds.) Great ape societies. Cambridge, England: Cambridge Univ Press,
Dr. Goodall is a well-known British primatologist who has discovered a substantial amount about primates in her many years of research. She has written numerous books, including one that we will be going into depth about called, “Through a Window.” Her book contains personal experiences, research findings, and even pictures to help the readers visualize her scientific breaking moments from her thirty years with the chimpanzees of Gombe. She states that there is are minor differences, and several similarities between humans and the chimpanzees. We will discuss these differences and similarities through their social behavior, intellectual ability, and emotions. To conclude, examine Goodall’s research to adopt what her findings can tell us about our early ancestors, and whether or not her study coincided to the steps of scientific methodology.
Chimpanzees are a lot like humans in their behaviours. They are extremely smart since they are able to make and use tools and weapons. The female mothers are very affectionate and protective over the young and the rest of their family. The young chimps are also very dependant on their mother for necessities such as food, shelter and warmth.
The idea that humans could possibly have evolved from apes was thought impossible until about 150 years. Charles Darwin, an English naturalist and geologist, best known for his contribution to evolutionary theory, stated “humans evolved from an apelike ancestor” (1). Still after Darwin’s theories, many people still doubted the chances of this being true. Just in the past decade have scientists reached a general agreement about the evolutionary relationships between humans and apes. DNA evidence indicates that chimps and bonobos are more closely related to humans than they are to gorillas! Technically humans are a kind of great ape, and that is why throughout the article Smuts will refer to apes as forest apes.
There are contrasts in tool kits used by different groups of chimpanzees, which seem to be a result of the environment in which they live as well as information that is shared by the group. For example, in 1973 it was reported that chimpanzees in Gombe did not use hammer stones, but those of Cape Palmas did. We will explore the tool use of Chimpanzees from the wild, including Gombe, Tai National Forest, and the Congo Basin---and contrast those with Chimpanzees in captivity in locations of Zoo’s both in the United States and abroad.
Beaudrot LH, Kahlenberg SM, Marshall AJ. 2009 Why male orangutans do not kill infants. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 63, 1549-1562
Although the practice of collecting animals have been present since 2500 B.C (Dunlap and Kellert), efforts to keep animals in a safe and natural habitat have been poorly consummated. Psychological manipulation has consequentially drawn chimpanzees to mental illness, as in the article “How Abnormal Is the Behavior of Captive, Zoo-Living Chimpanzees?” Lucy P. Birkett and Nicholas E. Newton-Fisher wrote, “Many chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) kept in laboratory housing settings show a variety of serious behavioral abnormalities, such as, repetitive rocking, drinking of urine, or self-mutilation.” Social and maternal separation for the benifit of reasearch are linked to psychological traumatic as well (Dunlap and Kellert). Although through history the service of zoos have been for entertainment, it is a trivial reason for holding chimpanzees in confidment. Subsequently, it is inhumane to take primates from the wild and place them in a zoo, commercial, or laboratory setting, which strips them of their ability to act naturally.
In his lecture, primatologist Robert Sapolsky explains the uniqueness of humans as well as our similarities to other primates. In doing so, he broke it down into six points of interest: aggression, theory of mind, the golden rule, empathy, pleasure in anticipation and gratification postponement, and lastly, culture. Professor Sapolsky approaches each point with interesting fact-based examples thus allowing me to gain insight on humans and other primates. Sapolsky’s knowledge of primates along with his scientific background allows him to make a clear argument that one cannot simply ignore.
Thesis Statement: Despite the rampant protests of animal welfare organizations on encaging primates in zoos since primates typically show abnormal behavior, zoos in the National Capital Region claim that human interaction and enrichment programs help alleviate the stress and trauma primates experience.
Throughout situations and research conducted by not only Robert Sapolsky or Jane Goodman, but from many other credited sources, we can blatantly see the, if not identical, similarities between the two species of humans and baboons. The most apparent likewise characteristics of this can be read and documented in Professor Sapolsky’s book, A Primate’s Memoirs. Sapolsky, who spent hundreds if not thousands, of hours studying these Savanna Baboons, sheds a vast insight into ideas of social dominance, mating strategies, instinctual prowess, community settings, hygiene, and reform of an entire generation; many of which can be unknowingly seen directly in the common occurrence of a humans daily life.
Celli, Maura L., Satoshi Hirata, and Masaki Tomonaga. "Socioecological Influences On Tool Use In Captive Chimpanzees." International Journal Of Primatology25.6 (2004): 1267-1281. Academic Search Premier. Web. 16 Apr. 2014.
In Franz De Waal’s book Chimpanzee Politics: Power and Sex Among Apes, social interactions between the chimpanzees at the Arnhem Zoo in Holland are examined. De Waal spends time observing the lives of these animals and comparing them and their ‘culture’ to human culture. The book follows a power struggle between the three dominant male chimps, Yeroen, Luit, and Nikkie. The book does not exclude female chimps and talks about how they influence the role the alpha males play.
According to National Geographic, scientists have sequenced the genome factor of the chimpanzee and found that humans are 98.5% similar to the ape species. The chimpanzee is our closest relative in the animal kingdom; however, some people are not aware of our resembling traits with chimpanzees. Jane Goodall’s, In the Shadow of Man, describes some similar traits humans and chimpanzees have such as their facial expressions and emotions, use of tools, and diet.
B.M.de Waal, Tree of Origin: What Primate Behavior Can Tell Us about Human Social Evolution. Havard University Press: Massachusets, 2001.
Stanford, Craig B., John S. Allen, and Susan C. Antón. Exploring Biological Anthropology: The Essentials. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2010. 17. Print.
In the article “Why Are Chimps Still Chimps?” published on February of 2012 by authors Norman J. Johnson, James J. Smith, Briana Pobiner, and Caitlin Schrein write about chimps and why they are still around today. Many people ask the question, if we evolved from chimps then why are they still here? The authors purpose of this article is to answer that very question. They write that the reasons chimps are still around today is because humans did not evolve from living chimps. Instead, both human and chimps evolved from a common ancestor that is now extinct.