Читать книгу Hardwired Humans - Andrew O'Keeffe - Страница 6

WHEN I FIRST SET FOOT on what is now the Gombe National Park on the shores of Lake Tanganyika in Tanzania it was to fulfil my childhood dream—to live with animals and write books about them. That was in 1960. I could not have imagined then that my study of the Gombe chimpanzees, now in its 50th year, would also provide information that would be used by other people writing their own books—such as Andrew’s Hardwired Humans.

So many people are obsessed with how we are different to other animals, but chimpanzees impress us with the similarities in their behaviour and our own. They have many of the attributes that used to be considered uniquely human—such as using and making tools, intellectually solving problems, expressing emotions such as anger, sadness, happiness, despair. This should not surprise us since we differ, in structure of DNA, by only just over one percent. Indeed, we are part of and not separated from the rest of the animal kingdom.

Yet we are different in one way—the explosive development of the human intellect. We are thus able to analyse those traits that we share with chimpanzees and other animals and use this knowledge to help us better understand why we behave the way we do. Based on lessons learned from the chimpanzees we can, Andrew suggests, develop strategies for successful interactions with others. An understanding of the complex ways in which chimpanzees maintain social harmony within their community can provide valuable insights for dealing with tensions in a group of humans. And this, along with an understanding of the social skills required by (in their case, male) chimpanzees to become successful alphas, will help humans to become better leaders.

As well as reading about the Gombe chimpanzees, Andrew has spent many hours watching and learning from the wonderful chimpanzee group at the Taronga Zoo in Sydney. It is his fascination for these apes, the knowledge he has gained first hand and from talking to the keepers that make this a compelling book. You will get many insights into your own behaviour and that of your friends and colleagues.

Dr Jane Goodall

Gombe Stream Research Centre, Tanzania