The Nature of Play: Great Apes and Humans Book

As one would expect from a book called "Our Inner Ape" written by a popular primatologist, this book was largely about similarities between humans and our closest primate relatives, chimpanzees and bonobos, and the evolutionary cause of these similarities. At the heart of De Waal's argument that biologists, primatologists, and most importantly evolutionary psychologists have emphasized the connections between chimp behavior and human behavior at the expense of the other side of human behavior, which is much more analogous to that of the bonobos.

The hallmark of chimp behavior, as observed by researchers is competitiveness, the struggle for power through violence and calculated social maneuvering. The image of the chimpanzee's violent streak has been used in pop culture and junk science as an eerie reminder that, unchecked by the constructs and contracts of society, man's biological makeup urges him to reckless violence. 2001: A Space Odyssey comes to mind. Through a series of anecdotes and a fairly thorough summation of the findings of the scientific community, De Waal provides a convincing argument that we've been blinded by the bludgeoning clubs to the more complex picture. Not only do bonobos - the sexiest primates you've never heard of - shed light on our empathetic sides, but the very chimps that are so often maligned for their competitiveness live in such complex societies and show such interdependence that is makes our apocalyptic visions of apes - naked or otherwise - murdering each other down to the very last individual seem silly and ignorant.

For such a champion of the bonobo (the only champion of the species I can think of) De Waal spends little time on the species. From this text, I still gather that the chimpanzee is our closest relative. Past scientists didn't pick the wrong species, they merely misrepresented it. Through a series of clearly organized chapters, De Waal compares how chimps and bonobos fall on a continuum of different traits including power, sex, violence, and kindness. He's always careful to connect both sides of the story back to humanity and in so doing, shows that humans are capable of any type of behavior and these behaviors can easily be explained in evolutionary terms. Most of this is pretty obvious stuff - relatively light, enjoyable reading that affirms nature again and again.

De Waal's strength lies in his enthusiasm for his research and his passionate retelling of so many great anecdotes. Two particular stories stick in my mind. The first, of a captive bonobo caring for an injured bird until it was well enough to fly from the enclosure, confirms, as much as anything else that empathy exists in nature. The reluctance of psychologists in particular and scientists in general of applying human traits to animals is largely debunked. Why would psychology and science attribute such qualities to humans but not animals? Haven't we seen again and again that we're animals ourselves? The second story, on the other end of the spectrum, of an alliance between a young upstart male chimp and an older calculating male murdering the current leader of a captive group, going so far as to squeeze this leader's testicles from his body shows the primate drive for power and the willingness to use violence to achieve that power.

My only other complaint about De Waal's enjoyable book is that he often manipulates the reader's sympathies to strengthen his points. He's all too human in many of his depictions of nature.

I agree with De Waal's descriptions of man's current relationship with evolution. However, I'm glad that he doesn't spend too much ink debunking social darwinism. I hope we can all agree to take that theory's weaknesses for granted.