Читать книгу Anthropology For Dummies - Cameron M. Smith - Страница 42

One specialty of physical anthropologists is the study of living primates, a field called primatology. (Some biologists also study primates, but without expressly looking for what they can teach humanity about itself.) Primatological physical anthropology studies primate behavior, biology, evolution, and anatomy. Each of these fields ties into the other, such that what anthropologists learn about behavior informs — and is informed by — what they learn about biology and so on. For example, you can’t fully understand the anatomy of a species without knowing about its evolution because anatomical characteristics — like a prehensile tail, or new kinds of teeth — don’t just pop up out of nowhere; they accumulate (or vanish) as selective pressures change and shape the organism.

Anthropologists study primate behavior by using the principles of ethology, the study of animal behavior. Although approaches vary, they often emphasize

 Observation of the animal in its natural environment for long periods — for example, across seasons and years rather than just a few weeks at a time

 Careful consideration of the interplay between behavior, environment, and anatomy, accounting for all that’s known about the species

 A search for and explanation of widespread similarities of behavior

 A search for and explanation of differences of behavior

When I say “animal behavior,” I really should say “nonhuman animal behavior” because humans are, of course, animals. But the dividing line between humans and all other life forms has been so ingrained in Western civilization for so long that the phrase “animal behavior” is tough to shake. Work by cognitive neuroscientist Brian Hare’s Duke Canine Cognition Center blurs some of the lines here by highlighting what we might learn about human cognition from canine (dog) cognition.

Unfortunately, study of many primates in their natural habitats is becoming impossible as primate species become extinct or their habitats are reduced. (You can read more about the peril in which many primate species exist in Chapter 4.) Unfortunately, primatologists must often resort to studying primate species in enclosure settings such as zoos (where their behavior and biology must differ from that in the wild). Considering that humanity has only been doing comparative primatology for a few decades and is only just sketching out an understanding of the living primates, this situation is a real shame.