THE NAKED APE

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and sweating can occur there regardless of the external temperature. The eating of highly spiced foods, for example, produces its own special pattern of facial sweating. Emotional stress quickly leads to sweating on the palms of the hands, the soles of the feet, the armpits and sometimes also the forehead, but not on other parts of the body. There is a further distinction in the areas of emotional sweating, the palms and the soles differing from the armpits and the forehead. The first two regions respond well only to emotional situations, whereas the last two react to both emotional and to temperature stimuli. It is dear from this that the hands and feet have 'borrowed' sweating from the temperature control system and are now using it in a new functional context. The moistening of the palms and soles during stress appears to have become a special feature of the 'ready for anything' response that the body gives when danger threatens. Spitting on the hands before wielding an axe is, in a sense, the non-physiological equivalent of this process. So sensitive is the palmar sweating response that whole communities or nations may show sudden increases in this reaction if their group security is threatened in some way. During a recent political crisis, when there was a temporary increase in the likelihood of nuclear war, all experiments into palmar sweating at a research institute had to be abandoned because the base level of the response had become so abnormal that the tests would have been meaningless. Having our palms read by a fortune-teller may not tell us much about the future, but having them read by a physiologist can certainly tell us something about our fears for the future. 188
CHAPTER EIGHT ANIMALS UP to this point we have been considering the naked ape's behaviour towards himself and towards members of his own species-his intra-specific behaviour. It now remains to examine his activities in relation to other animals-his inter-specific behaviour. All the higher forms of animal life are aware of at least some of the other species with which they share their environment. They regard them in one of five ways: as prey, symbionts, competitors, parasites, or predators. In the case of our own species, these five categories may be lumped together as the `economic' approach to animals, to which may be added the scientific, aesthetic and symbolic approaches. This wide range of interests has given us an inter-specific involvement unique in the animal world. In order to unravel it and understand it objectively we must tackle it step by step, attitude by attitude. Because of his exploratory and opportunist nature, the naked ape's list of prey species is immense. At some place, at some time, he has killed and eaten almost any animal you care to mention. From a study of prehistoric remains we know that about half a million years ago, at one site alone, he was hunting and eating species of bison, horse, rhino, deer, bear, sheep, mammoth, camel, ostrich, antelope, buffalo, boar and hyaena. It would be pointless to compile a 'species menu' for more recent times but one feature of our predatory behaviour does deserve mention, namely our tendency to domesticate certain selected prey species. For, although we are likely to eat almost anything palatable on occasion, we have nevertheless limited the bulk of our feeding to a few major animal forms. Domestication of livestock, involving the organised control and selective breeding of prey, is known to 189
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THE NAKED APE by Desmond Morris A B
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This book is intend
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INTRODUCTION THERE are one hundred
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some respect. If they were healthy,
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CHAPTER ONE ORIGINS THERE is a labe
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we put it, it looks out of place. E
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The primate group, to which our nak
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Faced with a new environment, our a
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complex manoeuvres could be develop
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The brightest stars in the carnivor
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a pack of African hunting dogs it i
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the night, but the contrast is neve
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in the dirt of the den or lair. Aft
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was a process of differential infan
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eating it, each have their own part
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Male and female hunting apes had to
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feature was its naked skin, which l
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home bases, its dens became heavily
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vital missing links in our ancient
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first appears. A great deal will de
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CHAPTER TWO SEX SEXUALLY the naked
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phase, privacy is sought and the su
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summatory act of sperm ejaculation
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the arteries pumping blood into the
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activity. Once the climax has been
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old females will have experienced o
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stay put and mind the babies while
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-the female remains responsive to t
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mucous surfaces permanently exposed
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areas in other animals where there
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Any body relationship, they feel, s
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At some point, back in our ancestry
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sexual contacts. In this particular
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This may also explain why the male
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lengths to render her as sexually r
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ised his sex life. The contemporary
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apology being proportional to the d
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enlarges it, imitating in this way
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ituation where the female is produc
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and avoids being attacked. A subord
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object lacking these signals. Secon
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is that the prolonged period of inf
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on the fundamental sexual structure
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CHAPTER THREE REARING THE burden of
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is not enough for the infant's lips
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mother, either instinctively or by
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apid during the first two years of
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onwards. It may even clasp on to he
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unlike the verbal signals, they eme
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mother's face and to distinguish he
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oth frighteningly odd and at the sa
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friendly, but if we greet them by l
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We develop the vital bond of attach
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andom and unco-ordinated. The cryin
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CHAPTER FOUR EXPLORATION ALL mammal
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But the reverse is actually the cas
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are combined, one with another, to
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equired no reward-it was its own re
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Writing, a formalised offshoot of p
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and clothing, in furniture and cars
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contacts immensely difficult and wi
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epeatedly bite themselves, or pull
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on the other hand, of vital signifi
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in respiratory activity. Breathing
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under the extreme conditions of agg
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formalised into rhythmic twistings
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Page 139 and 140: intensities of it are expressed in
Page 141 and 142: mechanisms. Many moths have a pair
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Page 145 and 146: such a situation can be seen to per
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Page 149 and 150: attacker and his enemy, and it is t
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Page 153 and 154: frequent accompaniment of wailing o
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Page 157 and 158: in profusion. This is usually expla
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Page 163 and 164: elements of challenge, luck and ris
Page 165 and 166: Another interpretation is that we h
Page 167 and 168: If they appeal to our old primate w
Page 169 and 170: disposal, we might be expected to r
Page 171 and 172: giving an impression of great conce
Page 173 and 174: the female can then fondle it and c
Page 175 and 176: is it aesthetically pleasing. Its f
Page 177 and 178: significance of the hair. In its re
Page 179 and 180: co-operativeness, specialised groom
Page 181 and 182: it is a strong dose of security tha
Page 183: If the environment becomes too cold
Page 187 and 188: prey-predator relationship, since i
Page 189 and 190: substitute space-traveller. No othe
Page 191 and 192: interferes with the efficient runni
Page 193 and 194: point of view, are fully justified
Page 195 and 196: small objects (chimpanzee, monkey,
Page 197 and 198: The unexpected discovery here is th
Page 199 and 200: on its back. It must be stressed he
Page 201 and 202: This cannot be explained solely on
Page 203 and 204: spiders being nasty, hairy things.
Page 205 and 206: symbolically, scientifically or aes
Page 207 and 208: tendencies; that if we have to beco
Page 209 and 210: Heart-beat response: Salk, 1966. Gr
Page 211 and 212: BIBLIOGRAPHY AMBROSE, J. A., `The s
Page 213 and 214: MILES, W. R., 'Chimpanzee behaviour
Page 215: Mimikry der Primaten'. Die Naturwis
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THE NAKED APE

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