1. What do Wrangham and Peterson argue about violence in chimpanzees and humans?
2. How does Sussman try to refute the argument put forth by “Demonic Males”?
3. Why is Wilson’s theory of Sociobiology significant to the argument? How does this help explain altruism in primates and humans from an evolutionary perspective?
4. Summarize what the article tells us about Jane Goodall’s research in the Gombe, and what may have led to an increase in violence among chimps there.
5. Read the commentary/questions below and respond to one or two of them in a short paragraph. If you have other observations or hypotheses you would like to share on this topic, you can do that too. Ill expect a descent-sized paragraph for this answer.
— It has been observed that chimpanzees are much more violent than bonobos, even though bonobos are much more closely related to chimpanzees than humans. Does this nullify the argument that chimpanzee aggression and human violence are related via evolution?
— Some researchers have suggested that chimpanzees are not even inherently violent, but rather that they learned about hunting monkeys and raiding other groups of chimpanzees by watching what humans have been doing in that part of Africa for the past 50-100 years. This idea turns Wrangam and Peterson’s idea upside down– with the question of: Could chimpanzees have become violent due to humans? rather than humans being ‘prone’ to violence due to the ancestor they shared with chimps?
–If human violence cannot be linked to evolutionary biology, than where do you think it comes from?
— Finally, when you observe the method of chimpanzee hunting for monkeys or for raiding other chimpanzees, how did you feel about it? Notice how much more overtly violent and brutal the hunts were compared to the persistence hunt you watched the humans perform. If our earliest ancestors were more chimpanzee-like, why would they abandon this type of violent hunt in favor of the endurance testof the persistence hunt? ** the persistence hunt is in the life of mammals play list. Its the only one inthe primate videolist that highlights humans.
SQC- Slow Quadrupedal Climbing- mainly nocturnal primates, lorises. Slow, quiet, creeping on top of the branches, used to hunt insects or avoid predation. Typical of lorises and some lemurs that are nocturnal.
VCL- Vertical Clinging and Leaping-lemurs, tarsiers (long legs and shorter arms). Movement is from tree trunk to tree trunk, pushing off with the legs and grabbing with the arms (hugging the tree).
Q/H-R/W/L- Quadrupedal/Horizontal Run/Walk/Leap (specify arboreal or terrestrial)-most monkeys (relatively even length of arms and legs). Palm walking. On top of the branches- leaps usually land horizontal or nearly horizontal to the ground, along the branches (rather than on the trunks like with VCL).
B- Brachiation-lesser apes like gibbons and simangs (long arms), arms only suspensory locomotion, swinging and hanging under branches. Though many monkeys can hang, few use this as their primary mode of locomotion.
KW/FW- Knuckle Walk/Fist Walk-most great apes when on the ground. Orangutans have to ‘fist’ walk because their long, curved fingers are designed for hanging, and cannot be bent properly to support their weight on the knuckles.
SQMC- Suspensory Quadrumanos Climbing-hanging, with all fours under the branches- orangutans or other great apes in the trees (its QuadruMANOS, rather than quadurpedal, since they use their feet like an extra set of hands. Also, importantly, they are hanging, UNDERNEATH the branches– similar to brachiation, but including the use of the feet. Large apes have to use SQMC because they are too heavy to just randomly swing to a branch and hope it will support their weight. They usually cannot brachiate, but first ‘test‘ a branch before letting go with the other hand or foot entirely.
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