Critique of Article About Primate Behavior - Essay Example

number] Critique of Article About Primate Behavior Much of the researches about chimpanzees have been utilized to provide clues to human behavior. This is not a surprise as chimpanzees are the closest living relatives of humans; hence, share a number of traits such as the sense of self and community, the capacity use tools in building their nests and in hunting. Chimpanzees have high intellectual capacity, one that is “familiar to human beings…a type of behavior which counts as specifically human” (Goodall). In the particular research which is the subject of this critique, Claudie Tennie, Robert O’ Malley and Ian Gilby provides an insight to an intuitive intellect exhibited by chimpanzees, and how they use this intelligence in their search for food. This study looks at the nutritional benefits of eating meat among chimpanzees in the hopes of “identifying the selective pressures responsible for increased meat consumption in the hominin lineage” (1). By looking at the various factors of meat consumption among chimpanzees, the researchers hope to gain an insight into the diet and behavior of the last common ancestors of humans and apes and perhaps, understand the costs and benefits of human consumption of meat. The researches reviewed available literature on chimpanzee diet and hunting behavior in order to determine the costs and benefits of acquiring and consuming various forms of animal matter. They utilized the meat scrap hypothesis which states that “there is a net benefit to obtaining a mere scrap of meat, even when there is a net energetic cost” (Tennie, O’Malley, and Gilby 2) as a guide for their research. Results of the research showed that the chimpanzees preys on atleast 32 species of smaller mammals, lizards, amphibians and birds which are often found in undergrowths or in a tree hollow. It was also discovered that nutritional yield, acquisition cost, yield per minute, local abundance and availability of prey were the major factors that affect chimpanzee consumption of vertebrate and invertebrate prey. Of all its prey, the termite soldiers, termite alates, dorylus ants and the red colobus monkey are the chimpanzees’ favorite. Unlike the its other favorites, however, chimpanzees form “‘hunting patrols’ in which large parties of males travel quietly, in single file” (Tennie, O’Malley, and Gilby 2) specifically to catch monkeys. This act (of catching the red colobus monkey) is so deliberate that Tennie et al. wants to know, why do chimpanzees exert effort to hunt when in fact this is requires greater effort and energy? Evidence from previous researches shows that on a gram-for-gram basis, meat and invertebrates are nutritionally comparable, hence lending various questions to the validity of the meat scrap hypothesis proposed by Tennie et al. Despite this, however, in the conclusion of the paper, Tennie et al. maintains that chimpanzees receive a benefit from meat. Except for the short explanation “we suggest that predation upon invertebrates in many ways may be a more reliable and less-energetically costly, but also less-efficient alternative strategy of acquiring similar important nutrients than hunting vertebrates” (Tennie, O’Malley, and Gilby 6), the researchers did not really explain what nutrients are in vertebrates which cannot be found in invertebrates. Moreover, it is important to note that only male chimpanzees are involved in hunting. Female and immature chimpanzees typically engage in insectivory because it is less risky. Red colobus are available year-round compared to invertebrates but acquisition cost is also very high. In many instances, members of the hunting patrol will get injured. Why then do chimpanzees need to hunt when in fact meat only constitutes 2% of their diet? Tennie et al. performed a difficult feat in attempting to synthesize the various literatures discussing meat consumption among chimpanzees, and the results are undeniably impressive. For one, they were able to show that chimpanzees have intuitive knowledge when it comes to the nutrition they need in order to thrive, and which among the smaller animals can provide this nutrition. It is also noteworthy that Tennie et al. were able to identify various gaps in previous researches and the recommendation they provided will definitely impact research on human behavior. However, it is important to note that chimpanzees are omnivores and they also eat “fruits, nuts, seeds, blossoms and leaves” (The Jane Goodal Institute of Canada). Much of the nutrients chimpanzees get from vertebrate and invertebrate animals may also be found in plants. So, one question that comes to mind while reading the research is: what sort of nutrients does the chimpanzee need that it can only get from red colobus monkeys? Research by Jane Goodall shows that meat composes only 2% of the chimpanzees’ diet (The Jane Goodal Institute of Canada), why is then there is so much emphasis on the nutrient value of meat in this research? On hindsight, I feel that the title of the research, “Why Chimpanzees Hunt?” was really important because the answer to this may prove to be deeper than the answer provided by Tennie et al. For me, the answer is not physiological, but may have something to do with other aspects of chimpanzee behavior. If chimpanzees have the capacity to care for family members, and to recognize a potential mate, do they also have the capacity to create peer groups? Is it possible that chimpanzees hunt as a form of initiation to a position of power in their communities? I think about the territorial war observed by Jane Goodall and I ask myself, is it possible that this war was proliferated only by a special group of individuals in the two warring territories? We know from the study of history that human beings are capable of this, hence, as our closest living relatives, chimpanzees may also be capable of this. And why hunt red colobus monkeys, what makes them so different from black and white colobus monkeys? Does the color red provide more nutritional value that the colors black and white? Or can this be seen as an early indicator of discrimination in the hominid lineage? Researching Chimpanzees: An Implication for Human Behavior Much of these questions I have presented in this critique cannot be answered by previous researches mainly because the study of chimpanzees was not directed towards these questions. But what makes the difference between the chimp and the human being? In terms of physiology, the difference is only 4%, but science shows that despite this close physical relationship, chimpanzees are not good models for human conditions (Varki and Altheide). It means that behavior-wise, chimpanzees differ much more than 4% compared to human beings because there is something in human beings that enables us to walk upright, to think before we speak, to repress aggression, and many others. If our own history shows human beings exhibiting much of the same behavior as that of chimps, is it possible that we have not yet completed our own evolution? In this case, it is possible that much of the issues we encounter as human beings of the modern world are brought about by our physiological make up – something we share with chimpanzees – and that we are simply acting based on our physical intuitions. Is it possible that we can truly become better human beings, people who act from that special part of us that enables us to do things that are beyond the chimp’s capacities. Perhaps, the completion of the Human Genome Project and the developments in science, we can discover it in the next few years. References Goodall, Jane. The Chimpanzees of Gombe: Patterns of Behavior. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1986. Print. Tennie, Claudio, Robert C. O’Malley, and Ian C. Gilby. “Why Do Chimpanzees Hunt? Considering the Benefits and Costs of Acquiring and Consuming Vertebrate versus Invertebrate Prey.” Journal of Human Evolution 2014 (2014): 1–8. Web. 2 Apr. 2014. The Jane Goodal Institute of Canada. “About Chimpanzees.” The Jane Goodal Institute of Canada. N. p., 2010. Web. 25 Apr. 2014. Varki, Ajit, and Tasha K. Altheide. “Comparing Human and Chimpanzee Genomes: Searching for Needles in a Haystack.” Genome Research (2005): n. pag. Read More