Are we humans simply remodelled apes? Chimps with a tweak? Is the difference between our genomes so minuscule it justifies the argument that our cognition and behaviour must also differ from chimps by barely a whisker? If “chimps are us” should we grant them human rights? Or is this one of the biggest fallacies in the study of evolution? NOT A CHIMP argues that these similarities have been grossly over-exaggerated - we should keep chimps at arm’s length. Are humans cognitively unique after all?
Wednesday, 3 February 2010
Bonobo Cannibalism
Too often, bonobos are depicted as the peaceable, vegetarian, "love-in" primate, in stark contrast to chimpanzees. But this report is of a number of bonobos taking a long time to eat a dead juvenile bonobo. There is no evidence that they killed the juvenile for meat and the scientists concerned guard against any interpretation that the inordinate time taken to dismember and eat the body denotes any ritual significance for the bonobos.
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