Despite all the grounds I have mentioned for being equally cynical about humanity’s future, my view is that our situation is not hopeless. We are the only ones creating our problems, so it is completely within our power to solve them. While our language and art and agriculture are not quite unique, we really are unique among animals in our capacity to learn from the experience of others of our species living in distant places or in the distant past. Among the hopeful signs, there are many realistic, often discussed policies by which we could avoid disaster, such as limiting human population growth, preserving natural habitats, and adopting other environmental safeguards. Many governments are already doing some of these obvious things in some cases.
For example, awareness of environmental problems is spreading, and environmental movements are gaining political clout. Developers do not win all the battles, nor do short-sighted economic arguments always prevail. Many countries have lowered their rate of population growth in recent decades. While genocide has not vanished, the spread of communications technology has at least the potential for reducing our traditional xenophobia, and for making it harder to regard distant peoples as subhumans unlike ourselves. I was seven years old when the A-bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, so I remember well the sense of an imminent risk of nuclear holocaust that prevailed for several decades thereafter. But nearly half a century has now passed without any further military use of nuclear weapons. The risk of a nuclear holocaust now seems more remote than at any other time since 9 August 1945.
My own outlook is conditioned by my experiences since 1979 as consultant to the Indonesian government on setting up a nature reserve system in Indonesian New Guinea (called Irian Jaya province). On the face of it, Indonesia does not seem a promising place to hope for much success in preserving our shrinking natural habitats. Instead, Indonesia exemplifies the problems of tropical Third World countries in acute form. With over 180 million inhabitants, it is the world’s fifth most populous country, as well as one of the poorer ones. The population is growing rapidly; nearly half of all Indonesians are under fifteen years old. Some provinces with an inordinately high population density are exporting their population surpluses to the less populated provinces (such as Irian Jaya). There are no armies of bird-watchers, no broad-based indigenous environmental movements. The government is not a democracy in the Western sense, and corruption is viewed as pervasive. Indonesia depends on logging of its virgin rainforests, second only to exploitation of oil and natural gas, as a source of its foreign exchange.
For all these reasons, one might not expect preservation of species and habitats to be a national priority pursued seriously in Indonesia. When I first went to Irian Jaya, I was frankly doubtful that an effective conservation programme would result. Fortunately, my Wichmann-like cynicism proved wrong. Thanks to the leadership of a core of Indonesians convinced of the value of conservation, Irian Jaya now has the beginnings of a nature reserve system comprising twenty per cent of the province’s area. Nor do those reserves exist just on paper. As my work proceeded, I was pleasantly surprised to come across sawmills abandoned because they conflicted with nature reserves, park guards out on patrol, and management plans being drawn up. All these measures were adopted not out of idealism, but out of a cold-blooded, correct perception of Indonesia’s national self-interest. If Indonesia can do it, so can other countries with similar obstacles to environmentalism, as well as much richer countries with broad-based environmental movements.
We do not need novel, still-to-be invented technologies to solve our problems. We just need more governments to do many more of the same obvious things that some governments are already doing in some cases. Nor is it true that the average citizen is powerless. There are many causes of extinction that citizen groups have helped throttle in recent years – for instance, commercial whaling, hunting big cats for fur coats, and importing chimpanzees caught in the wild, to mention just a few examples. In fact, this is one area where it is particularly easy for a modest donation by the average citizen to have a big impact, because all conservation organizations now have such modest budgets. For instance, the annual combined budget for all primate conservation projects that the World Wild Fund for Nature supports throughout the world is only a few hundred thousand dollars. An extra thousand dollars means an extra project on some endangered monkey, ape, or lemur that might otherwise have been ignored. On pages 352–4 I suggest some specific starting points for interested readers.
Hence while I do see us facing serious problems with an uncertain prognosis, I am cautiously optimistic. Even the cynical last sentence of Wichmann’s book proved false: New Guinea explorers since Wichmann really have learned from the past and avoided the disastrous stupidities of their predecessors. A motto more appropriate for our future than Wichmann’s motto comes from the memoirs of the statesman Otto von Bismarck. As he reflected on the world around him towards the end of his long life, he too had reason to be cynical. Possessing a keen intellect and working at the centre of European politics for decades, Bismarck had witnessed a history of unnecessarily repeated errors as gross as those pervading the early history of New Guinea exploration. Yet Bismarck still considered it worthwhile to write his memoirs, to draw lessons from history, and to dedicate his memoirs ‘to [my] children and grandchildren, towards an understanding of the past, and for guidance for the future’.
This is also the spirit in which I dedicate this book to my young sons and their generation. If we will learn from our past that I have traced, our own future may yet prove brighter than that of the other two chimpanzees.
FURTHER READING
These suggestions are for readers interested in reading further. In addition to key books and papers, I have also tended to favour recent references that provide comprehensive listings of the earlier literature. Journal titles are followed by the volume number, followed by the first and last page number, and then the year of publication in parentheses.
Chapter 1: A Tale of Three Chimps
The literature on deducing relationships among humans and other primates by means of the DNA clock consists of technical articles in scientific journals. Sibley and Ahlquist present their studies in three papers: C.G. Sibley and J.E. Ahlquist, ‘The phylogeny of the hominoid primates, as indicated by DNA-DNA hybridization’, Journal of Molecular Evolution 20, pp. 2–15 (1984); ‘DNA hybridization evidence of hominoid phylogeny: results from an expanded data set’, Journal of Molecular Evolution 26, pp. 99–121 (1987); and C.G. Sibley, J.A. Comstock, and J.E. Ahlquist, ‘DNA hybridization evidence of hominoid phylogeny: a reanalysis of the data’, Journal of Molecular Evolution 30, pp. 202–36 (1990). Sibley’s and Ahlquist’s many studies of bird relationships by means of the same DNA methods are summarized in two articles: C.G. Sibley and J.E. Ahlquist, ‘The phylogeny and classification of birds based on the data of DNA-DNA hybridization’, in the book Current Ornithology, edited by R.F.Johnston, vol. 1, pp. 245–92 (Plenum, New York, 1983); and C.G. Sibley, J.E. Ahlquist, and B.L. Monroe, ‘A classification of the living birds of the world based on DNA-DNA hybridization studies’, Auk 105, pp. 409–23 (1988).
Similar conclusions about human and primate relationships were obtained by DNA comparisons using a different method (termed the tetraethylammonium chloride method, rather than the hydroxyapatite method used by Sibley and Ahlquist). The results were described by A. Caccone and J.R. Powell in ‘DNA divergence among hominoids’, Evolution 43, pp. 925–42 (1989). A paper by the same authors explains how percentage similarity among DNAs can be calculated from DNA mixed melting points: A. Caccone, R. DeSalle, and J.R. Powell, ‘Calibration of the changing thermal stability of DNA duplexes and degree of base pair mismatch’, Journal of Molecular Evolution 27, pp. 212–16 (1988).
The above papers compare the entire genetic material (DNA) of two species by means of mixed melting points in order to obtain a single measure of overall similarity. Alternatively, a much more laborious method yielding much more detailed information about a tiny fracti
on of each species’ DNA consists of determining the actual sequence of molecular units comprising that portion of DNA. Four studies stemming from a single laboratory and applying that method to human and primate relationships are M.M. Miyamoto et al, ‘Phylogenetic relations of humans and African apes from DNA sequence in the Ψ-globin region’, Science 238, pp. 369–73 (1987); M.M. Miyamoto et al, ‘Molecular systematics of higher primates: genealogical relations and classification’, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 85, pp. 7627–31 (1988); M. Goodman et al, ‘Molecular phylogeny of the family of apes and humans’, Genome 31, pp. 316–35 (1989); and M. Goodman et al, ‘Primate evolution at the DNA level and a classification of hominoids’, Journal of Molecular Evolution 30, pp. 260–66 (1990). The same principle is applied to relationships among Lake Victoria’s cichlid fishes by A. Meyer et al, ‘Monophyletic origin of Lake Victoria cichlid fishes suggested by mitochondrial DNA sequences’, Nature 347, pp. 550–53 (1990).
Two papers that vigorously criticize the DNA clock in general, and Sibley’s and Ahlquist’s application of it to human/primate relationships in particular, are J. Marks, C.W. Schmidt, and V.M. Sarich, ‘DNA hybridization as a guide to phylogeny: relationships of the Hominoidea’, Journal of Human Evolution 17, pp. 769–86 (1988); and V.M. Sarich, C.W. Schmidt, and J. Marks, ‘DNA hybridization as a guide to phylogeny: a critical analysis’, Cladistics 5, pp. 3–32 (1989). In my view, the criticisms by Marks, Schmidt, and Sarich have been adequately answered. The good agreement between conclusions about human/primate relationships based on the DNA clock as measured by Sibley and Ahlquist, the DNA clock as measured by Caccone and Powell, and DNA sequencing further supports the correctness of these conclusions.
Other papers on the DNA clock are in two issues of the Journal of Molecular Evolution, nos. 3 and 5 in vol. 30 (1990), that also include some of the papers cited above.
Chapter 2: The Great Leap Forward
Among the many books providing detailed accounts of human evolution, the recent one that I found the most useful is by Richard Klein, The Human Career (University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1989). A beautifully illustrated and less technical account is by Roger Lewin, In the Age of Mankind (Smithsonian Books, Washington DC, 1988).
Two books presenting multi-authored technical accounts of recent human evolution are edited by Fred H. Smith and Frank Spencer, The Origins of Modern Humans (Liss, New York, 1984) and by Paul Mellars and Chris Stringer, The Human Revolution: Behavioural and Biological Perspectives on the Origins of Modern Humans (Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 1989). Some recent articles on the dating and geography of human evolution are by C.B. Stringer and P. Andrews, ‘Genetic and fossil evidence for the origin of modern humans’, Science 239, pp. 1263–68 (1988); H. Valladas et al, ‘Thermoluminescence dating of Mousterian “proto-Cro-Magnon” remains from Israel and the origin of modern man’, Nature 331, pp. 614–16 (1988); C.B. Stringer et al, ‘ESR dates for the hominid burial site of Es Skhul in Israel’, Nature 338, pp. 756–58 (1989); J.L. Bischoff et al, ‘Abrupt Mousterian-Aurignacian boundaries at c. 40 ka bp: accelerator 14C dates from l’Arbreda Cave (Catalunya, Spain)’, Journal of Archaeological Science 16, pp. 563–76 (1989); V. Cabrera-Valdes and J. Bischoff, ‘Accelerator 14C dates for Early Upper Paleolithic (Basal Aurignacian) at El Castillo Cave (Spain)’, Journal of Archaeological Science 16, pp. 577–84 (1989); and E.L. Simons, ‘Human origins’, Science 245, pp. 1343–50 (1989).
Three books with many beautiful illustrations of Ice Age art are by Randall White, Dark Caves, Bright Visions (American Museum of Natural History, New York, 1986); Mario Ruspoli, Lascaux: the Final Photographs (Abrams, New York, 1987); and Paul G. Bahn and Jean Vertut, Images of the Ice Age (Facts on File, New York, 1988).
Matthew H. Nitecki and Doris V. Nitecki, The Evolution of Human Hunting (Plenum Press, New York, 1986), provide a series of chapters by various authors on that subject.
The question of whether Neanderthals really did bury their dead is debated in an article by R.H. Gargett, ‘Grave shortcomings: the evidence for Neanderthal burial’, and in accompanying responses, published in Current Anthropology 30, pp. 157–90 (1989).
Three sources that will provide an entrance into the literature on the linked questions of human vocal tract anatomy and whether Neanderthals could speak are Philip Lieberman’s The Biology and Evolution of Language (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1984); E.S. Crelin’s The Human Vocal Tract (Vantage Press, New York, 1987); and an article by Arensburg et al, ‘A Middle Palaeolithic human hyoid bone’, Nature 338, 758–60 (1989).
Chapter 3: The Evolution of Human Sexuality
Chapter 4: The Science of Adultery
For anyone interested in an evolutionary approach to behaviour in general (including reproductive behaviour), two books are a must: E.O. Wilson, Sociobiology (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1975), and John Alcock, Animal Behavior, 4th edition (Sinauer, Sunderland, 1989).
Outstanding books that discuss the evolution of sexual behaviour include Donald Symons, The Evolution of Human Sexuality (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1979); R.D. Alexander, Darwinism and Human Affairs (University of Washington Press, Seattle, 1979); Napoleon A. Chagnon and William Irons, Evolutionary Biology and Human Social Behavior (Duxbury Press, North Scituate, Massachusetts, 1979); Tim Halliday, Sexual Strategies (University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1980); Glenn Hausfater and Sarah Hrdy, Infanticide (Aldine, Hawthorne, New York, 1980); Sarah Hrdy, The Woman that Never Evolved (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1981); Nancy Tanner, On Becoming Human (Cambridge University Press, New York, 1981); Frances Dahlberg, Woman the Gatherer (Yale University Press, New Haven, 1981); Martin Daly and Margo Wilson, Sex, Evolution, and Behavior (Willard Grant Press, Boston, 1983); Bettyann Kevles, Females of the Species (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1986); and Hanny Lightfoot-Klein, Prisoners of Ritual: an Odyssey into Female Genital Circumcision in Africa (Harrington Park Press, Binghamton, 1989).
Books dealing specifically with primate reproductive biology include C.E. Graham, Reproductive Biology of the Great Apes (Academic Press, New York, 1981); B.B. Smuts et al, Primate Societies (University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1986); Jane Goodall, The Chimpanzees of Gombe (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1986); Toshisada Nishida, The Chimpanzees of the Mahale Mountains, Sexual and Life History Strategies (University of Tokyo Press, 1990); and Takayoshi Kano, The Last Ape: Pygmy Chimpanzee Behavior and Ecology (Stanford University Press, Stanford, 1991).
Articles on the evolution of sexual physiology and behaviour include the following: R.V. Short, ‘The evolution of human reproduction’, Proceedings of the Royal Society (London), series B 195, pp. 3–24 (1976); R.V. Short, ‘Sexual selection and its component parts, somatic and genetical selection, as illustrated by man and the great apes’, Advances in the Study of Behavior 9, pp. 131–58 (1979); N. Burley, ‘The evolution of concealed ovulation’, American Naturalist 114, pp. 835–58 (1979); A.H. Harcourt et al, ‘Testis weight, body weight, and breeding system in primates’, Nature 293, pp. 55–57 (1981); R.D. Martin and R.M. May, ‘Outward signs of breeding’, Nature 293, pp. 7–9 (1981); M. Daly and M.I. Wilson, ‘Whom are newborn babies said to resemble?’, Ethology and Sociobiology 3, pp. 69–78 (1982); M. Daly, M. Wilson, and S.J. Weghorst, ‘Male sexual jealousy’, Ethology and Sociobiology 3, 11–27 (1982); A.F. Dixson, ‘Observations on the evolution and behavioral significance of “sexual skin” in female primates’, Advances in the Study of Behavior 13, pp. 63–106 (1983); S.J. Andelman, ‘Evolution of concealed ovulation in vervet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops)’, American Naturalist 129, pp. 785–99 (1987); and P.H. Harvey and R.M. May, ‘Out for the sperm count’, Nature 337, pp. 508–9 (1989).
Chapter Four discussed several examples illustrating how birds combine extramarital sex with apparent monogamy. Detailed examples of such studies are presented in papers by D.W. Mock, ‘Display repertoire shifts and extra-marital courtship in herons’, Behaviour 69, pp. 57–71 (1979); P. Mineau and F. C
ooke, ‘Rape in the lesser snow goose’, Behaviour 70, pp. 280–91 (1979); D.F. Werschel, ‘Nesting ecology of the Little Blue Heron: promiscuous behavior’, Condor 84, pp. 381–84 (1982); M.A. Fitch and G.W. Shuart, ‘Requirements for a mixed reproductive strategy in avian species’, American Naturalist 124, pp. 116–26 (1984); and R. Alatalo et al, ‘Extra-pair copulations and mate guarding in the polyterritorial pied flycatcher, Ficedula hypoleuca’, Behaviour 101, pp. 139–55 (1987).
Chapter 5: How We Pick Our Mates and Sex Partners
Not surprisingly, this topic has called forth much scientific study. Some papers exemplifying the literature on mate choice by humans are E. Walster et al, ‘Importance of physical attractiveness in dating behavior’, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 4, pp. 508–16 (1966); J.N. Spuhler, ‘Assortative mating with respect to physical characteristics’, Eugenics Quarterly 15, pp. 128–40 (1968); E. Berscheid and K. Dion, ‘Physical attractiveness and dating choice: a test of the matching hypothesis’, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 7, 173–89 (1971); S.G. Vandenberg, ‘Assortative mating, or who marries whom?’, Behavior Genetics 2, pp. 127–57 (1972); G.E. DeYoung and B. Fleischer, ‘Motivational and personality trait relationships in mate selection’, Behavior Genetics 6, pp. 1–6 (1976); E. Crognier, ‘Assortative mating for physical features in an African population from Chad’, Journal of Human Evolution 6, pp. 105–114 (1977); P.N. Bentler and M.D. Newcomb, ‘Longitudinal study of marital success and failure’, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 46, pp. 1053–70 (1978); R. C. Johnson et al, ‘Secular change in degree of assortative mating for ability?’, Behavior Genetics 10, pp. 1–8 (1980); W.E. Nance et al, ‘A model for the analysis of mate selection in the marriages of twins’, Acta Geneticae Medicae Gemellologiae 29, pp. 91–101 (1980); D. Thiessen and B. Gregg, ‘Human assortative mating and genetic equilibrium: an evolutionary perspective’, Ethology and Sociobiology 1, pp. 111–40 (1980); D.M. Buss, ‘Human mate selection’, American Scientist 73, pp. 47–51 (1985); A.C. Heath and L.J. Eaves, ‘Resolving the effects of phenotype and social background on mate selection’, Behavior Genetics 15, pp. 75–90 (1985); and A.C. Heath et al, ‘No decline in assortative mating for educational level’, Behavior Genetics 15, pp. 349–69 (1985). Also relevant is a book by B.I. Murstein, Who Will Marry Whom? Theories and Research in Marital Choice (Springer, New York, 1976).
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