Transcript Primatology and Religion: Can chimps teach us anything about

James A. Van Slyke
 Share 98.5% of the same genes
 Hominid lineage split from chimpanzee about 6
million years ago from a common ancestor
 Chimpanzee and Bonobo Chimpanzee split about 2.5
million years ago
 Comparative psychology
 Studying animal behavior as approximations of human
behavior
 Primatology – study of chimpanzees and apes
 Similarities in adaptive behaviors
 Human Altruism is an important
doctrine in many religions
 If evolution is about survival of the
fittest, why do people sacrifice for
others?
 Show Care and Concern for others
 Help others in need
 Willing to sacrifice one’s life for
another
Mother Teresa
 “Nature red in Tooth and Claw”
(Tennyson)
 “Selfish Genes” (Dawkins)
 Common assumption about Evolution
is that it is primarily about
competition and violence
 Non human Primates demonstrate
other factors in the social lives of
chimpanzees
 Not all aspects are competitive and
violent
 Attachment
 Harry Harlow’s studies on cloth vs. wire mother
 Attachment is primary bond used for social exploration
of young monkeys
 Several underlying neural systems facilitate this bond
 Neurochemicals – oxytocin, prolactin, endorphins
 Hypothalamus releases oxytocin, which facilitates breast-
feeding and bonding
 Performs a similar function in human mothers
 Attachment is the first process that increases our circle
of concern towards others
 Chimpanzee societies have a hierarchical system
 alpha male has sexual privileges and rights to food
 Yet male is not completely dominate in social situations
 Food Sharing
 Chimpanzees will tolerate others eating their food
 Begging is often involved
 Protests against monopolizing food sources
 Mouth to mouth feeding may have been a pre-cursor for
a kiss
 Food may be distributed to hunters first; or used to
maintain status
 Hippie Monkeys – “Make love not war”
 Bonobos have larger groups
 Bonobos often use sex; heterosexual or
homosexual to ease tensions in the
group
 Sex is often exchanged for food
 Female matriarchs are often in charge
in bonobo troops
 Females often maintain power through
alliances with other females
 Females will often work together to fend off aggressive
males
 Chimpanzees often have a alpha female in the group
 Through coalitions females may sometimes have more
power than the alpha male
 Alpha males cannot retain their status without help
from females
 Alpha males usually can only retain status through
building coalitions with other males
 There is a type of rank system in chimpanzee troops;
but not strict dominance of one chimp over all others
 Example
 Nikkie retained the alpha role by teaming up with an
older adult male Yeoren against a third rival Luit
 Coalitions such as this one are very common
 The social structure of early primate societies may
have been a precursor to human altruism
 Step from pure self-interest to interest in the other
 Increased the circle of concern towards others in the
group
 Definitely not altruism, but a step in the right
direction