Though considerable time has elapsed since Mr. Morris first published his most famous work -- the initial printing of this 1967 classic landed him in hot water for using the word penis in an anthropological context --, it remained as compelling to me today, 43 years later, as it must have been for those who first picked it up four decades ago. Mr. Morris, a zoologist, sets out, in The Naked Ape, to examine humans through the same, analytical lens used to observe Earth's other animals. After all, we are animals too. Perhaps, in studying ourselves and our evolutionary history with a curator's dispassion, we can better understand what drives our behavior.
Did you know that, of the 193 varieties of apes, humans are the only ones without fur? Mr. Morris packs his effort with plenty of tidbits like this as he tours the naked ape with the eye of a zookeeper. But while human trivia is interesting enough -- apparently we have the largest brain of any ape --, it is Mr. Morris' discussion of ancestral humans which transforms this book from an informational booklet one might find at a zoo into a truly fascinating piece of popular science. His discussion of pair bonding I found especially riveting. Mr. Morris contends that humans are exceptionally sexualized creatures relative to other apes, that our bodies have developed specifically to attract and bind the opposite sex into relationships tight enough that, when children are produced, the relationship remains stable long enough for the child to grow into adolescence and self-sufficiency. Why do we need stable parenting? Because humans, relative to other animals, take an exceptionally long time to develop, physically and cognitively. Birds, for instance, take only weeks to fully develop. Dogs are fully grown in two years, but are capable of defending themselves long before that. But none of these animals are as intelligent as we are. Mr. Morris contends that we made an evolutionary exchange, a short childhood for self-awareness and intellect, and that it was this which required the parental bond, and that sexual attraction was the only way to maintain the parent bond long enough for the child to grow.
Mr. Morris' case has been challenged in recent years, but that's bound to happen when ones research and conclusions are 40 years old. Even if the events described here do have the air of educated guesses, his argument is compelling. And even if you disagree with the case put forward by Mr. Morris, I've little doubt that this book will spark an interest in primatology. The author has packed a remarkable amount of fascinating material into some 200 slim pages of eminently readable text. On its merits, four stars, but I have to dock a point for the extent to which Mr. Morris' conclusions have been disputed. (3/5 Stars)
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