The Last Great Apes?

摘要

Forty years ago, adolescent Figan set off confidently into the woods of Tanzania as though he knew of a food source even richer than the bananas near Jane GoodalPs camp. Older and stronger chimpanzees would follow him away. Then he'd lose them and circle back to gorge himself on bananas. One day, a high-ranking male turned up in the meantime and sat eating, in full possession of the site. When Figan returned he stared for a few seconds at the unchallengeable male, then threw a tantrum, screaming and hitting the ground. Figan finally left camp unfed, his screams still echoing behind him. Forty years ago, behavioral scientists hardly believed that story. We had schooled ourselves to think of animals as devoid of foresight and powered by mechanical "drives" that didn't count as emotions. The pioneers of ape field study—the Japanese researchers Itani, Nishida, and Kano; the "Trimates" Goodall, Fossey, and Galdikas; and the British Broadcasting Corporation films by Attenborough—taught us instead to trust our own evolved empathy. We now know that apes may actively encourage or deceive each other, transmit learned tool cultures, gang-kill rivals, or adopt motherless orphans. Above all, each is an individual who is politically astute or brutal, nurturing or careless, playing his or her own role in a complicated society. Now we look into the eyes of an ape and see someone looking back.