THE NAKED APE

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sexuality this will serve to strengthen the pair-bond and maintain the family unit. The other is that it considerably increases the chances of fertilisation. It does this in a rather special way that applies only to our own peculiar species. Again, to understand this, we must look back at our primate relatives. When a female monkey has been inseminated by a male, she can wander away without any fear of losing the seminal fluid that now lies in the innermost part of her vaginal tract. She walks on all fours. The angle of her vaginal passage is still more or less horizontal. If a female of our own species were so unmoved by the experience of copulation that she too was likely to get up and wander off immediately afterwards, the situation would be different, for she walks bipedally and the angle of her vaginal passage during normal locomotion is almost vertical. Under the simple influence of gravity the seminal fluid would flow back down the vaginal tract and much of it would be lost. There is therefore a great advantage in any reaction that tends to keep the female horizontal when the male ejaculates and stops copulating. The violent response of female orgasm, leaving the female sexually satiated and exhausted, has precisely this effect. It is therefore doubly valuable. The fact that the female orgasm in our species is unique amongst primates, combined with the fact that it is physiologtcal1y almost identical with the orgasmic pattern of the male, suggests that perhaps it is in an evolutionary sense a 'pseudo-male response. In the make-up of both males and females there are latent properties belonging to the opposite sex. We know from comparative studies of other groups of animals that evolution can, if necessary, call up one of these latent qualities and bring it into the front line (in the 'wrong' sex, as it were). In this particular instance we know that the female of our species has developed a particular susceptibility to sexual stimulation of the clitoris. When we remember that this organ is the female homologue, or counterpart, of the male penis, this does seem to oint to the fact that, in origin at any rate, the femaFe orgasm is a 'borrowed' male pattern. 70
This may also explain why the male has the largest penis of any primate. It is not only extremely long when fully erect, but also very thick when compared with the penises of other species. (The chimpanzee's is a mere spike by comparison.) This broadening of the penis results in the female's external genitals being subjected to much more pulling and pushing during the performance of pelvic thrusts. With each inward thrust of the penis, the clitoral region is pulled downwards and then, with each withdrawal, it moves up again. Add to this the rhythmic pressure being exerted on to the clitoral region by the pubic region of the frontally copulating male, and you have a repeated massaging of the clitoris that-were she a male-would virtually be masturbatory. So we can sum up by saying that with both appetitive and consummatory behaviour, everything possible has been done to increase the sexuality of the naked ape and to ensure the successful evolution of a pattern as basic as pair-formation, in a mammalian group where it is elsewhere virtually unknown. But the difficulties of introducing this new trend are not over yet. If we look at our naked ape couple, still successfully together and helping one another to rear the infants, all appears to be well. But the infants are growing now and soon they will have reached puberty, and then what? If the old primate patterns are left unmodified, the adult male will soon drive out the young males and mate with the young females. These will then become part of the family unit as additional breeding females along with their mother, and we shall be right back where we started. Also, if the young males are driven out into an inferior status on the edge of society, as in many primate species, then the co-operative nature of the all-male hunting group will suffer. Clearly some additional modification to the breeding system is needed here, some kind of exogamy or outbreeding device. For the pair-bond system to survive, both the daughters and the sons will have to find mates of their own. This is not an unusual demand for pairforming species and many examples of it can be found amongst the lower mammals, but the social nature of 71
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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
Page 15 and 16: Faced with a new environment, our a
Page 17 and 18: complex manoeuvres could be develop
Page 19 and 20: The brightest stars in the carnivor
Page 21 and 22: a pack of African hunting dogs it i
Page 23 and 24: the night, but the contrast is neve
Page 25 and 26: in the dirt of the den or lair. Aft
Page 27 and 28: was a process of differential infan
Page 29 and 30: eating it, each have their own part
Page 31 and 32: Male and female hunting apes had to
Page 33 and 34: feature was its naked skin, which l
Page 35 and 36: home bases, its dens became heavily
Page 37 and 38: vital missing links in our ancient
Page 39 and 40: first appears. A great deal will de
Page 41 and 42: CHAPTER TWO SEX SEXUALLY the naked
Page 43 and 44: phase, privacy is sought and the su
Page 45 and 46: summatory act of sperm ejaculation
Page 47 and 48: the arteries pumping blood into the
Page 49 and 50: activity. Once the climax has been
Page 51 and 52: old females will have experienced o
Page 53 and 54: stay put and mind the babies while
Page 55 and 56: -the female remains responsive to t
Page 57 and 58: mucous surfaces permanently exposed
Page 59 and 60: areas in other animals where there
Page 61 and 62: Any body relationship, they feel, s
Page 63 and 64: At some point, back in our ancestry
Page 65: sexual contacts. In this particular
Page 69 and 70: lengths to render her as sexually r
Page 71 and 72: ised his sex life. The contemporary
Page 73 and 74: apology being proportional to the d
Page 75 and 76: enlarges it, imitating in this way
Page 77 and 78: ituation where the female is produc
Page 79 and 80: and avoids being attacked. A subord
Page 81 and 82: object lacking these signals. Secon
Page 83 and 84: is that the prolonged period of inf
Page 85 and 86: on the fundamental sexual structure
Page 87 and 88: CHAPTER THREE REARING THE burden of
Page 89 and 90: is not enough for the infant's lips
Page 91 and 92: mother, either instinctively or by
Page 93 and 94: apid during the first two years of
Page 95 and 96: onwards. It may even clasp on to he
Page 97 and 98: unlike the verbal signals, they eme
Page 99 and 100: mother's face and to distinguish he
Page 101 and 102: oth frighteningly odd and at the sa
Page 103 and 104: friendly, but if we greet them by l
Page 105 and 106: We develop the vital bond of attach
Page 107 and 108: andom and unco-ordinated. The cryin
Page 109 and 110: CHAPTER FOUR EXPLORATION ALL mammal
Page 111 and 112: But the reverse is actually the cas
Page 113 and 114: are combined, one with another, to
Page 115 and 116: 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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of the `pomp and circumstance' will
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in profusion. This is usually expla
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personal acquaintances listed there
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grounds. It is a predominantly masc
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elements of challenge, luck and ris
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Another interpretation is that we h
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If they appeal to our old primate w
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disposal, we might be expected to r
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giving an impression of great conce
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the female can then fondle it and c
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is it aesthetically pleasing. Its f
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significance of the hair. In its re
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co-operativeness, specialised groom
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it is a strong dose of security tha
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If the environment becomes too cold
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CHAPTER EIGHT ANIMALS UP to this po
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prey-predator relationship, since i
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substitute space-traveller. No othe
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interferes with the efficient runni
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point of view, are fully justified
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small objects (chimpanzee, monkey,
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The unexpected discovery here is th
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on its back. It must be stressed he
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This cannot be explained solely on
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spiders being nasty, hairy things.
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symbolically, scientifically or aes
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tendencies; that if we have to beco
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Heart-beat response: Salk, 1966. Gr
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BIBLIOGRAPHY AMBROSE, J. A., `The s
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MILES, W. R., 'Chimpanzee behaviour
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Mimikry der Primaten'. Die Naturwis
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THE NAKED APE

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