The Story of the Monkey - How Primates Seek Peace

Author: Frans de Waal
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-10-01
Features: This book is one of the clearest, most engaging, and highly readable scientific research reports since Thomas Henry Huxley promoted Darwin's On the Origin of Species. Our closest relatives, primates, form stable social relationships between violence and peace. Members of this group are both friends and enemies, competing for food and mates but also depending on each other, especially for comforting physical contact. These animals sometimes have to face the fact that if they win this time, they may lose a friend. The answer to this dilemma is either to reduce competition or to repair relationships afterward. We call the first solution "tolerance" and the second "reconciliation." Primates use these two methods as an efficient cooling system to maintain their entire social structure, preventing the social machine from overheating, exploding, or collapsing. They are like human families, where although fights never cease, the main theme is peaceful coexistence.