Apes and Sushi Masters (A Cultural Reflection by a Primatologist)

Author: (American) Will by Ling Huai, Jiang Jun translated
Publisher:
Publishing Time: 2005-01-01
Features: "Frans de Waal is one of today's great ethologists, and he happens to be a wonderful storyteller. In this book, de Waal explores, like a philosopher, the similarities between humans and other animals. In the process, he takes us on a broad and highly inspiring journey through different cultures, races, and various ethologists. Reading this book is truly a pleasure." This book challenges the basic assumptions about "who we are" and "what makes us different from other animals." The outstanding primatologist Frans de Waal, through delightful autobiographical anecdotes, rigorous investigation, and reflection, guides us to consider the possibility that apes may have their own culture. We believe that only humans possess rich culture and can finely and diversely distinguish our behavior from that of animals. But what if the behavior of apes in response to their environment is learned through observing their elders (culture), rather than being derived from pure genetic instincts (nature)? What would happen then? This idea shakes the belief held for centuries about what makes humans special. It also questions the recent tendency to view other animals as slaves of genetic programs. If animals, like us humans, also learn from each other, they would be closer to humans. De Waal corrects the assumption that humans are the only intelligent life capable of completing the leap from nature to culture. The title of this book comes from an analogy he made: comparing the transmission of behavior in ape societies to an apprentice carefully observing a sushi master at work. De Waal explores the details of social transmission and, more broadly, how our own culture influences our perception of other animals, and how our understanding of animals affects our self-reflection. Here, he examines the influence of European ethology and Japanese primatology on our study of animal behavior. The issue of animal culture is deeply cultural, and it is no coincidence that the drive to advance the study of animal culture comes from the East, where there is little tendency to exclude humans from nature. Apes stand before us as a mirror, and in it, they are not clumsy imitators of humans but members of our extended family, possessing their own wisdom and dignity. Since Carl Linnaeus bravely grouped us with monkeys and apes in 1975, we have recognized that we are not unique. Biologically, we have never been alone, and in this book, the author presents an equally startling claim—culturally, humans are not unique either.