Anthro Essay 1
Matthew Prythero
ANTH: Human Nature
9/11/2013
Humans & Chimpanzees
It appears that out of the scholarly research of many who have dedicated their lives to learning more about the chimpanzees and their characteristics most common in us have found and believe that chimpanzees do in fact have culture, just like humans do. Now how you interpret culture also determines how you interpret the human-like behaviors found in chimpanzees. Gender roles and behaviors, group and biological responses and much more show similarities between chimpanzees and their human counterparts. Of the behaviors mentioned in the articles regarding primate behaviors, many had connections and great similarities in between humans and chimpanzees. Chimpanzees were mentioned to communicate in between hoots and even are believed to have dialects, which are similar to humans and our version of speech and language, with the only difference being that they use only sounds with limited language structure, whereas humans have a huge variety in our language structure. A common behavior, which I have experience first-hand is when humans and chimpanzees are in brief periods of crowding (for humans, an example would be an elevator), for the majority both avoid social interaction to avoid conflict (or in this case of humans, awkwardness). There’s not much difference there, we always associated elevator music with those dreadful moments of going up 40 floors with a whole bunch of people just standing quietly, maybe humming to the tune of the music to help time pass. Some behaviors have more of a gender related feel to them and are studied as such. It is the female chimpanzees who care for the young in the pack, which is almost exactly like in humans where it is primarily the female who cares for the children, especially those young enough for nursing. Male chimpanzees on the other hand tend to stay close to one another and hunt together, and this is again, almost like the males of the human species
ANTH: Human Nature
9/11/2013
Humans & Chimpanzees
It appears that out of the scholarly research of many who have dedicated their lives to learning more about the chimpanzees and their characteristics most common in us have found and believe that chimpanzees do in fact have culture, just like humans do. Now how you interpret culture also determines how you interpret the human-like behaviors found in chimpanzees. Gender roles and behaviors, group and biological responses and much more show similarities between chimpanzees and their human counterparts. Of the behaviors mentioned in the articles regarding primate behaviors, many had connections and great similarities in between humans and chimpanzees. Chimpanzees were mentioned to communicate in between hoots and even are believed to have dialects, which are similar to humans and our version of speech and language, with the only difference being that they use only sounds with limited language structure, whereas humans have a huge variety in our language structure. A common behavior, which I have experience first-hand is when humans and chimpanzees are in brief periods of crowding (for humans, an example would be an elevator), for the majority both avoid social interaction to avoid conflict (or in this case of humans, awkwardness). There’s not much difference there, we always associated elevator music with those dreadful moments of going up 40 floors with a whole bunch of people just standing quietly, maybe humming to the tune of the music to help time pass. Some behaviors have more of a gender related feel to them and are studied as such. It is the female chimpanzees who care for the young in the pack, which is almost exactly like in humans where it is primarily the female who cares for the children, especially those young enough for nursing. Male chimpanzees on the other hand tend to stay close to one another and hunt together, and this is again, almost like the males of the human species