The Monkeys Voyage - Book Report/Review Example

The Monkey's Voyage The question as to how different species settled to live wherever they are now has been an enduring enigma in the field of biology. For instance, how the gigantic flightless bird such as moa came to live in New Zealand has been a puzzle. Similarly, how monkeys crossed the Atlantic to find their way to South America from Africa appears mysterious (De Queiroz 13). The typical answer that is given by the evolutionary biologists from the 1960s depends on vicariance, the successful vindication of plate tectonics and continental drift. This argument describes what takes place when barriers like a mountain range or an ocean, separate a species, to become more than one population and lead them to the differing evolutionary paths. According to geological history or the proponents of vicariance, the present continents were once clustered together as the earliest supercontinent called Pangaea (Morrison 848). When the land masses were drifting away from each other, to their present positions, they carried with them, plants and animals. Nonscientists may view this proposal as a straight forward one and one that does not create controversy. However, in his book The Monkey's Voyage, Alan de Queiroz, a biologist, discloses how complicated the subversive furor was. The Monkey’s Voyage is a strikingly told narrative that exotically reveals the significance of historical contingency and the aspects of scientific discovery (Morrison 847). From the moment plate tectonics was discovered, scientists have argued that animals and plants were spread over the world by riding parts of the ancient old supercontinents that broke up and drifted apart (Morrison 847). However, in the past decade, the plate tectonic theory has been void since the genomic revolution has discovered new data available. This new data has shown an extraordinary story that is stranger than fiction. The astonishing story has hence ignited scientific upheaval. Mainly, Alan de Queiroz, in his book The Monkey's Voyage, gives a description of this drastic new view of how disjointed distribution took place. He states that mammals and frogs rode on icebergs and rafts, tiny spiders wafted on storm winds, as plant seeds moved in the fluff of sea- birds to form the present map of life (De Queiroz 14). This implies that these creatures were not just constrained by the fate of the continents. Rather, they were the creators of their geographical destiny. In addition, as illustrated by de Queiroz, the impacts of oceanic distribution have been vital in creating the variety of life here on earth. This diversity has occurred from guinea pigs and monkeys in South America to kiwi birds and beech trees in New Zealand (Loader 369). By knocking down the notion that the gentle course of continental drift is the major force behind the unusual distribution of creatures, de Queiroz highlights the unpredictable and dynamic nature of the account of life. In this book, de Queiroz tries to differ and presents his arguments passionately and completely convincingly. For instance, he argues that the primary premise of continental drift theory is flawed since oceans are not crossable (De Queiroz 17). On the contrary, de Queiroz visualizes thousands of centuries of the most unusual and silent expeditions that are not vicariance but instead voyaging. Although de Queiroz acknowledges the astounding number of variables, he paints a hypothetical that is easily imagined. The indispensable question behind de Queiroz’s book is why the world is the way it is. The answer to this question is provided by the image of random chance that moves stray animals over enormous and uncongenial distances of life (Loader 370). These movements enable creatures to swarm everywhere. For instance, the spiders can use webbing strands to move to the lower stratosphere and loop the globe. Similarly, small creatures can hitch rides by sticking in the feathers of the thick-legged ocean crossing birds (Loader 371). Equally, the frantic raft dwellers also rely on the ocean currents, which move the seas. All these, therefore, reveal the complete biota of the earth. In captivating support of that revolution, he probes us to reflect on the vast effects that the voyaging species have had since time immemorial, on the world (Steve 27). A clear example can be taken to be the dispersion of the flea, voyaging on migrating rats that managed to bear the bubonic epidemic. De Queiroz also, rather unaccountably, mentions the case of the potato. He says that the potato was first planted 4000 years back in Peru and reached Europe in late 1500s (De Queiroz 18). This is a somewhat fantastic scenario. The changes that can be shaped by such intruders who are well traveled are instead unhelpfully referred to as invasive species. These species bring about changes in their turn, as De Queiroz states, make the world new (Steve 30). This change has been extremely well done. De Queiroz gives a comprehensive account arguing that the best possible spread of a model-shifting new school of thought on the account of life on earth. At one point, he remarks with startling honesty about the work that can result from evaluating a series of scientific papers. From the simple tentative beginnings, De Queiroz provides the reader with a detailed framework of more recent progresses. For instance, in the sector of molecular biology, de Queiroz begins by unraveling the proof for long distance spreading (De Queiroz 24). He delightedly tells the bizarre journeys by questionable creatures such as frogs, snakes, monkeys and even flightless birds (Matzke 15). With the help of these tales, de Queiroz reveals a world that is shaped by miracles. He puts in additional dimensions to this story along the way. He does this by introducing intriguing characters who have significantly contributed to the ever changing field of evolutionary biology (Matzke 17). However, de Queiroz is also incessantly honest, recognizing gaps in the data as well as omissions where essential. For instance, he maintains that molecular clocks are hard to love, and it is easy to find fault with them (Matzke 18). The rare, the miraculous, the improbable, and the mysterious, are not adjectives that scientists are usually brave enough to use. However, these words form the basis of de Queiroz’s argument. He argues that evolutionary biology as a field of science is a game of probabilities and chances (Matzke 19). Therefore, given opportunity and enough time, the miraculous and the improbable may become the likely as well as the reasonable. According to de Queiroz, vicariance and the ideas on which it was built were movements that were powered not only by intellectual concerns, but also by the radical aggression that sometimes appeared not to be easy (De Queiroz 24). De Queiroz enlivens his arguments with rich portraits of opponents, notably the eccentric French-born Léon Croizat and Gary Nelson. According to de Queiroz, the proponents of vicariance favored a model of argument that was based on equivalent parts of sarcasm and shouting (De Queiroz 24). The weightiest sarcasm was heaped on the theory of dispersalism, which was the ancient, allegedly untestable notion that animals and plants found their ways at their present geographical locations, relatively on their individual power, through a sequence of chance and long distance migrations. With regards to this argument, De Queiroz asserted that the opponents of vicariance were just but looking at the pros and the cons of dispersalism. De Queiroz acknowledges that theory dates back to the periods of Charles Darwin. He asserts that Darwin proposed that the migrating icebergs might have been used as a means of transport (De Queiroz 25). Although this argument may appear strange, the ancient biblical scholars also theorized that upon landing on Mount Ararat, Noah’s menagerie scattered all over the world by moving from one island to another, or as ship cargo. According to Léon Croizat, dispersalism was merely a word of pretense and that which could make people believe the tales (Morrison 848). On the other hand, Nelson viewed this method of biogeographic evolution as a science of the miraculous, rare, mysterious, and improbable animals. By contrast, however, vicariance was dependent on the pure science of plate tectonics as well as on cladistics (Morrison 848). Cladistics entailed organizing different species into more sensibly eminent evolutionary lineages, as per the shared traits. De Queiroz also recounts that vicariance developed a form of mythical power. He held this view due to the paradoxical outcome of the evidence that even present species disperse over improbable distances (Steve 31). Among the various examples cited by de Queiroz, white faced herons moved for about 1,400 miles to New Zealand from Australia. This was back in the late 1940s (Steve 31). Similarly, the green iguanas migrated to the Caribbean island in 1995, following a hurricane that moved them over 180 miles from their previous location, Guadeloupe (Steve 32). Therefore, based on critical analysis of the DNA changes, the new art of molecular clocks, gives a convincing argument on vicariance. It argues that on its own, vicariance cannot offer a sufficient explanation as to why several species are found where they are. De Queiroz’s vicariance argument holds that monkeys moved from Africa to South America when these continents were drifting apart nearly one hundred million years ago (De Queiroz 25). However, many molecular clock researchers have shown that the split between new and old world monkey took place about thirty to fifty million years ago. In addition, in the fossil record of the new world, primates just appear like out of thin air, that is twenty-six million years ago (Matzke 22). The question that follows then is how these organisms got there. In an attempt to get back to this question, De Queiroz comes up with a scientific case. He writes that the land rafts occasionally calve off continents hence drifting long distances. Therefore, according to him, when a similar raft moved a few pioneering monkeys all the way to South America way back in 1300 BC, the Atlantic could have just been 900 miles away (Matzke 23). Therefore, powerful currents may have shortened the journey to as short as a few days. A look at molecular clocks destabilizes the notion that the non-flying moa moved to New Zealand through continental drift only. As an alternative, de Queiroz argues that genetic evidence puts South America’s bird called tinamou, which can fly regardless of being heavily bodied, at the depth of the same line of evolution (Loader 372). This implies that moa was able to travel to New Zealand only to become flightless later. If moas and monkeys were able to make such trips, it follows then that smaller animals and plants can also make such voyages. In this argument, however, de Queiroz does not come out as a polemicist, but rather as a raconteur. He provides a guide down and an avenue of ideas, citing colorful characters like karyMullis who developed the essential tools of the DNA revolution. In his book, The Monkey's Voyage, de Queiroz disarmingly employs honesty (Loader 373). He is willing to admit whenever a piece of evidence fails quite to hit the mark. This is simply the best to be adopted at the moment. For instance, he acknowledges that it is the work of historical scientists and evolutionary biologists to make conclusions from apparently flawed and likely misleading information (De Queiroz 26). In this sense, de Queiroz demonstrates a deeper understanding of the nature of historical evidences. Therefore, The Monkey Voyage is a strikingly told narrative that exotically reveals the significance of historical contingency and the aspects of scientific discovery. It is a tale of how the world got populated and people’s own fumbling efforts to understand it. Works Cited De Queiroz, Alan. The monkey's voyage: how improbable journeys shaped the history of life. Basic Books, 2014. Loader, Simon P. "Stormy waters: Review of The Monkey's Voyage, by Alan de Queiroz, Basic Books, pp. 368-379" (2014). Matzke, Nicholas J. "Ancient Forests and Peripatetic Primates: Alan de Queiroz’s The Monkey’s Voyage." Reports of the National Center for Science Education 35.2 (2015). Morrison, David A. "The Monkey's Voyage: How Improbable Journeys Shaped the History of Life.—By Alan de Queiroz." Systematic Biology 63.5 (2014): 847-849. Steve, G. "The Monkey's Voyage: How Improbable Journeys Shaped the History of Life [Hardcover]." (2012). Read More