THE NAKED APE

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a strange complacency that this can never happen, that there is something special about us, that we are somehow above biological control. But we are not. Many exciting species have become extinct in the past and we are no exception. Sooner or later we shall go, and make way for something else. If it is to be later rather than sooner, then we must take a long, hard look at ourselves as biological specimens and gain some understanding of our limitations. This is why I have written this book, and why I have deliberately insulted us by referring to us as naked apes, rather than by the more usual name we use for ourselves. It helps to keep a sense of proportion and to force us to consider what is going on just below the surface of our lives. In my enthusiasm I may, perhaps, have overstated my case. There are many praises I could have sung, many magnificent achievements I could have described: By omitting them I have inevitably Oven a one-sided picture. We are an extraordinary species and I do not wish to deny it, or to belittle us. But these things have been said so often. When the coin is tossed it always seems to come up heads, and I have felt that it was high time we turned it over and looked at the other side. Unfortunately, because we are so powerful and so successful when compared with other animals, we find the contemplation of our humble origins somehow offensive, so that I do not expect to be thanked for what I have done. Our climb to the top has been a get-rich-quick story, and, like all nouveaux riches, we are very sensitive about our background. We are also in constant danger of betraying it. Optimism is expressed by some who feel that since we have evolved a high level of intelligence and a strong inventive urge, we shall be able to twist any situation to our advantage; that we are so flexible that we can re-mould our way of life to fit any of the new demands made by our rapidly rising species-status; that when the time comes, we shall manage to cope with the over-crowding, the stress, the loss of our privacy and independence of action; that we shall remodel our behaviour patterns and live like giant ants; that we shall control our aggressive and territorial feelings, our sexual impulses and our parental 210
tendencies; that if we have to become battery chickenapes, we can do it; that our intelligence can dominate all our basic biological urges. I submit that this is rubbish. Our raw animal nature will never permit it. Of course, we are flexible. Of course, we are behavioural opportunists, but there are severe limits to the form our opportunism can take. By stressing our biological features in this book, I have tried to show the nature of these restrictions. By recognising them clearly and submitting to them, we shall stand a much better chance of survival. This does not imply a naive `return to nature'. It simply means that we should tailor our intelligent opportunist advances to our basic behavioural requirements. We must- somehow improve in quality rather than in sheer quantity. If we do this, we can continue to progress technologically in a dramatic and exciting way without denying our evolutionary inheritance. If we do not, then our suppressed biological urges will build up and up until the dam bursts and the whole of our elaborate existence is swept away in the flood. 211
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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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sdditional energy on it, and it is
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the grooming itself. Monkeys make g
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signal. (With the arm bent and held
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intensities of it are expressed in
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mechanisms. Many moths have a pair
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largely confined now to a form of s
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such a situation can be seen to per
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the policeman into a position of im
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attacker and his enemy, and it is t
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intelligence that must get us out.
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frequent accompaniment of wailing o
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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
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Page 181 and 182: it is a strong dose of security tha
Page 183 and 184: If the environment becomes too cold
Page 185 and 186: CHAPTER EIGHT ANIMALS UP to this po
Page 187 and 188: prey-predator relationship, since i
Page 189 and 190: substitute space-traveller. No othe
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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: symbolically, scientifically or aes
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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