Customer Reviews

Our Inner Ape

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Primatology, the study of our ape cousins, must at once be the most rewarding and thankless jobs in science. On the one hand, these investigations can tell us more about ourselves than any philosophy or psychology curriculum can hope to impart. We learn of their friendships, conflicts, desires, social manipulations and group politics. The resemblances to humans make compelling reading. On the other hand, the long history of our culture has conditioned us to avoid recognising our evolutionary roots. There are "the animals" and there is "us".

With thirty years' experience in the Netherlands and the United States, de Waal wants us to understand how human values derive from primate origins. His careful studies have revealed things unexpected even to himself. His chief aim with this synopsis is to dispense with the many myths that have emerged over the past few years - chimpanzees as "murderers" or "war-makers"; bonobos as over-sexed and gender indifferent, both as "simply wild animals living at the command of "instinct". Diversity and individuality are a major facet of ape societies which, in de Waal's assessment, not only makes them worthy of study, but worthy of sound comparison with our own species.

At first glance, de Waal's condensation of ape behaviour into four topical chapters seems over-distillation. The material in those chapters, however, shows the complexity of primate personalities. Chimpanzee society is male-dominated, with young males taking every opportunity to displace the "alpha" group leader. They live in a strongly hierarchical society where the males hunt and dispense meat for sexual and other favours. Female chimpanzees form few alliances, although brief excursions with males other than the alpha occur. The other "chimpanzee", as de Waal points out, couldn't be more different. The bonobo, once known as the "pygmy chimp", has a more egalitarian society. In fact, the most dominant individual is usually an older female. When fights occur, they are generally brief and inconsequential. The "alpha" female is more likely to die of old age than be toppled by a younger competitor. The leading bonobo is respected for her conciliation and diplomatic skills. Power, then, is a feature of primate society, but how power is exhibited and maintained varies greatly.

"Sex" and "Violence" form the next two topics. Among the apes, including humans, there are several trade-offs involved in producing and raising offspring. Male-dominated chimpanzee groups can establish parentage with relative ease. "Extra-Pair Matings" [EPM] are discouraged and the alpha male is fairly secure in the babies being his. One of the more distressing discoveries about chimpanzees was the revelation that an usurping alpha would kill all his predecessor's offspring. Bonobos would find such behaviour abhorrent [as do we]. In bonobo society, everybody has sex with everybody else - gender is irrelevant. Consequently, since any baby might belong to any male, infanticide is unknown. It's not unknown among humans. The rate of violence against stepchildren, says de Waal, is a matter of some concern. The rate of human EPM is even higher, with studies indicating as many as one-fifth of newborns fathered by unacknowledged men. Yet, alone among primates, we form the "nuclear family" group.

There's another side to all ape behaviour, says de Waal. That's "Kindness". Science turns over both its own and society's often cherished beliefs. One of those beliefs is that only humans "care". Opening the book with the now-famous case of the gorilla that rescued a small child from a zoo moat, de Waal goes on to explain how apes are kind to each other, and even other species. We like to believe that kindness is something we invented with culture, but de Waal suggests there are roots for it reaching back at least 6 million years when the chimp-human lineage split. "The apes can tell us much about ourselves", he contends. There's no better place to seek that information than among them. While fights among chimpanzees are common and often intense, so is the reconciliation that follows. Chimpanzees, bonobos and humans are form societies. Each has methods to keep those societies functioning. Empathy and mutual kindness are as much a part of ape "culture" as in human communities. De Waal urges that we open our eyes to the examples offered by our ape cousins for hints about solving some of our own problems. The biggest step we must take in that process is the recognition that our habits derive from theirs.

That derivation is de Waal's conclusion to this excellent work. Much has been made of the fact that humans and chimpanzees share over 98% of our DNA. The author passes over the numbers in favour of the behavioural evidence. We and the other apes share the experience of "community" and how to live with others. In aspects of sex and violence, we share habits and diverge - but not far - in others. It's false, he says, to argue that humans are "naturally" violent or loving. We aren't the manifestation of "selfish" genes alone, but adapt fluidly to changing conditions. Like the other apes, we negotiate, maneuver and manipulate, sometimes successfully. Our greatest difference is in the way we occupy and use territory. We evolved in an open environment, but we live enclosed in urban centres. That is a contradiction we must learn to deal with. We are, in his words, "The Bipolar Ape". [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

In our explanations of human behavior, there is sometimes a tendency to attribute the brutish and nasty examples to our animal nature, but to claim acts of kindness, altruism and compassion as distinctly human proclivities. This view goes hand in hand with what De Waal calls the veneer theory of civilization -- the idea that morality is a recent acquisition (perhaps aided by religious texts) and that lurking beneath this thin veil of decency is a cauldron of seething, antisocial impulses. Anyone who endorses this Hobbesian view of human nature would do well to consult this book.

In "Our Inner Ape", Frans De Waal seeks to ground both our darkest and most sublime tendencies in a continuous, evolutionary history. He chooses two of our closest primate relatives to prove his point -- the chimpanzee and the bonobo. De Waal assumes absolutely no background knowledge on the part of the reader (in fact, he takes some time to spell out the difference between a monkey and an ape). Sandwiched in between an opening and a concluding chapter, the meat of this book concentrates on the topics of `Power', `Sex', `Violence' and `Kindness'. De Waal's accounts of the highly intricate social networks formed by the ape species and their complex forms of interaction within those networks are extremely interesting.

However, what some might view as the strong point of the book, to me seems like precisely its weakness. I am referring to the book's purely anecdotal tone. Having read it, one comes away less with factual information on the social life of the higher primates than with a somewhat random series of stories. Though these stories are intriguing, there are so many of them that it makes one wonder how much of what has been read will be retained. The book is not so much a concentrated study as it is scattered story-telling.

Also troubling was De Waal's misdirected swipe at Dawkins' "Selfish Gene". Dawkins did go to some extent to distinguish the difference between individual selfishness and what he meant by the phrase `selfish gene'. He also went to some lengths to point out how the term `selfish gene' was not to be understood literally but purely as a metaphor. To believe that Dawkins was out advocating heartless individualism is a gross misreading of his work; it also ignores the fact that Dawkins explicitly stated that his work should under no circumstance be read as a guidebook for how to organize our society. De Waal's reading of Dawkins here is uncharitable and it attacks a straw man version of his argument. There is actually far less dissonance between Dawkins' `selfish gene' and what De Waal proposes in "Our Inner Ape", for De Waal also assumes that morality emerges from a process of natural selection and that it grows out of kin selection and reciprocal altruism (effective strategies for gene propagation).

In some ways this work by De Waal seems like an updating of the outdated "Naked Ape" by Desmond Morris. It is similarly geared specifically toward the general audience who will reap the most satisfaction from this book. It does not seem to offer much that is new to the reader who is even minimally acquainted with primate studies.

Proving that all social science remains cyclical, Frans De Waal offers readers a new trip around in the never ending debate of the biological roots of human culture and behavior. For decades, as any student who sat in on an intro anthropology class will tell you, the reigning comparison stood between Homo sapiens and chimpanzees. Thus these aggressive, territorial, and -- to anthropomorphize a bit -- brutal primates, with their hierarchical and male dominated social structure stood as the explanation for all of humankind's worst impulses. Such analysis fit well into the several millennium old dichotomy between our "animal" (evil) and "human" (good) impulses.

Through his fascinating and often amusing analysis of the bonobo, another primate with whom, like chimps, humans share 98.5% of genetics'. Where the chimp is brutal the bonobo is peaceful. Where chimps are territorial and hierarchical, the bonobos share and maintain a female dominate structure. Where chimps jealously guard sexual privileges, bonobos mate, well like animals, sharing partners in all conceivable combinations (De Waal pays this great attention, suggesting that such "loose" sexual relationships prevent aggression).

De Waal writes well, and offers an interesting thesis that in fact both sides of human nature may well come from our animal roots. He even presents interesting evidence for empathy among bonobs and more startling still, the elusive notion of consciousness, that an individual can project themselves into an alien form, such as bonobos caring for birds. All of this makes for a fun and thought provoking read.

De Waal falls short, however, in not going deep enough. While he demonstrates evidence for the emotional hardiness of chimps vs. the far more delicate bonobo (during a bombing in WWII all a zoo's bonobos suffered heart attacks, while the chimps survived), but does not go far enough in examining the potential genetic basis of such behavior. Also, while he does offer in bonobos interesting evidence of alternative survival strategies to aggression, he unfortunately empathizes a bit too much with these gentle creatures. The resulting anthropomorphize, while forgivable, distracts the readers and leads De Waal to make some arguments that seem a bit forced and ignore viable alternatives.

Such criticism, however, should not cause any to shy away from this quite enjoyable and thought provoking work.

Even staunch supporters of Darwinian Evolution acknowledge the reason that many people find that theory hard to accept. We humans see ourselves as rational beings with manners and ethics, while apes are fundamentally different creatures that behave like -- well -- animals.

Emory University Primatologist Frans de Waal would not agree. If we really want to understand what makes us human, de Waal argues in Our Inner Ape, we should not focus on our differences with apes, but rather examine the "fascinating and frightening parallels between primate behavior and our own, with equal regard for the good, the bad, and the ugly."

That is precisely what he does in the book, with a wealth of stories and an entertaining style that does not sacrifice scientific depth or objectivity. He focuses on chimpanzees and bonobos because they are closest to humans, sharing a common ancestor as recently as 5.5 million years ago.

A 1000-word review of Our Inner Ape, including an opening limerick, is available at my Science Shelf online book review archive.

Ouch. Some reviewers clearly did not like Our Inner Ape. But I did. It's delightful.

Frans De Waal writes thoughtfully, using many, many (perhaps a few too many) stories from his long experience watching chimps and bonobos as a springboard into his analysis of human society. Unlike most who write about fields that they love -- and De Waal clearly loves his study of primates (ape and human) -- De Waal does not force his conclusions. Instead, he leads the reader along, and acknowledges that many of his ideas could well be a little off base.

For me, the chapter on sex provoked the most thought. If any of us could be impartial observers of sex and human society, it would probably seem hilarious. (Lord Chesterfield's comment that "the expense is exorbitant, the pleasure transitory, and the position ridiculous" seems a pretty accurate statement of how we should view sex. But of course we don't.) De Waal's description of the hedonism of bonobo society, contrasted with the chimp's approach to sex, gives some interesting clues as to why we human males and females act the strange way that we do.

Whether you like Our Inner Ape depends on what you expect. I came across the book in the library, picked it up, started reading, and was captivated. It took me little time to decide I was buying a copy for myself. But if you are looking for something scientific, with extensive footnotes, De Waal's somewhat rambling and anecdotal approach will probably leave you unsatisfied. And some of the things De Waal states as fact should be taken with a grain of salt. This is not a rigorous book of scholarship.

All in all, though, I would ask myself this: Do I want to read a book that will keep my interest and get me thinking? Our Inner Ape will do that. Give it a read.

This is a powerful book, beautifully written and free of jargon. It provides many insights into "why we are who we are," as the subtitle promises. Careful observation of our close cousins the chimp and bonobo enlightens us about our own nature. Yet the author takes a broad view of our humanity, not falling into the trap of pigeon-holing us as he discusses his findings from the primate world. Mr. De Waal has a subtle and deep mind. His writing style is deceptively simple, and I found myself often stopping to consider the complex thoughts and conclusions in the book. This is a book to savor for a long time after you are done. If read carefully, it will change the way you look at yourself and your relations with others.

I won't repeat what the many [!] other reviewers have said. I could echo most of their praise and also the criticism about De Waal's overlooking bonobos' emotional fragility under severe stress. But I'm amazed that no one has extrapolated his observations to a certain sociological analog that hit me in the face, left me guffawing, and will never again let me associate republicans with elephants and democrats with donkeys. It'll be chimps and bonobos for me from now on!

Chimps and bonobos are our closest living relatives. They each share over 98% of our DNA and split off into a separate lineage from humans about 6 million years ago, a relative blink of the eye in evolutionary terms.

Frans De Waal, one of the world's leading primatologists, examines the links between human behavior and that of chimps and bonobos. The book explores ape and human behavior as it relates to power, sex, violence and kindness. The chimp is depicted as living in a male dominated, hierarchial society where status and other disputes are often handled through aggression and physical intimidation. Bonobo society, in contrast, is matriarchal and relies much more on sexual activity, in all possible gender combinations, to lower tensions and maintain peace. But the book also contains nuance and and depth, as De Waal discusses how chimps make up after conflicts by kissing and hugging, while bonobos can sometimes be aggressive as well.

Humans, meanwhile, are described as the "bipolar ape" because we can be even more violent and murderous than chimps. But also even more loving and empathetic than bonobos. Basically it comes down to human potential and just how vast our capacity is for both good and evil. De Waal comments on politics and discusses American culture in relation to this vast potentiality, offering suggestions on how we can do better while still recognizing and appreciating the "animal instincts" that lie within us all. I also highly recommended Frans De Waal's "Bonobo: The Forgotten Ape," which includes many beautiful photos of bonobos in the wild by Frans Lanting.

This book comes closer to illuminating the origin and nature of human behavior than many philosophical and psychological works. De Waal,a world's authority on the subject of primates, describes in this fascinating book his personal experiences with chimps and bonobos. What makes these experiences even more fascinating is de Waal's ability to put them into a larger framework of universal evolutionary forces driving primate emotion, behavior and intellect. Far from representing a simple autobiographical accountthis work is an ambitious and far-reaching analysis of why we humans are what we are, an attempt to reach into causes that millions of years ago forced Australopithecines to abandon tree branches for biped life.

What I got from the book was an insight that we it comes to emotional and social life we humans are hardly different from bonobos and chimps.
We share behavioral strategies with chimps (aggression, extermination wars, male-dominated social hierarchy) and bonobos (sex throughout the year, cooperation etc); what makes us different is formation of stable monogamous pairs. That, in turn, drove human social organization. The delicate care with which a chimp may treat a wounded bird, machiavellian machinations and strategies used by chimp males to obtain and maintain social power, wars between neighboring chimp 'tribes', adultery and the need for affection, belonging and love are something are all too 'human'. De Waal describes how, in contrast to chimps and humans, the incessant male jockeying for power is absent in bonobos because the power is all in the hands of old females. For better or worse, bonobo males are henpecked, each and every one of them. Consequently, and in contrast to chimps and humans, are no wars in bonoboland. Instead there is sex, lots of it.

The book is superbly written, amazingly easy to read, and there is much understated and elegant humor. De Waal makes a good job relating primate behavior to current political affair(e)s. Above all, one can discern in this work a passionate concern of a humanist and scientist who is devoted to his animal subjects/friends and who is able to tackle directly and in an innovative fashion important questions often taken as prerogatives of philosophers and other non-scientists. Highly recommended.

The main thrust of this book is to contrast the violent, patriarchial social structure of chimpanzees with the gentle, matriarchial non-violent and highly sexual nature of bonobos (so-called 'pygmy chimps.') De Waal then concludes that people -- descended from a common ancestor -- are both more violent than chimps and more altruistic than bonobos, making us a truly bipolar ape. This much of the book is pretty straightforward, predictable and non-controversial.

But De Waal goes further. As a keen observer also of his fellow pink apes, he draws illuminating and insightful parallels between chimp & bonobo behavior and ours. He explains bullying and scapegoating, institutionalized cruelty, heroism, small talk, religion, celebrity worship, political capital, our sense of fairness, sports team loyalties, and dozens of other human behaviors which might seem puzzling without proper context. In these the author's conclusions are probably not without controversy, but they are WAY more fascinating, thought-provoking and challenging.

In the end this book turns out to be not about chimps and bonobos at all, but the "inner ape" each one of us carries around in our head. It's a mirror of uncommon clarity.