THE NAKED APE

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hard labour. It seems likely that co-operation from other individuals was needed right back at the stages where the hunting ape was evolving from its forestdwelling ancestors. Luckily the co-operative nature of the species was growing alongside this hunting development, so that the cause of the trouble could also provide its cure. Normally, the chimpanzee mother not only bites through the cord, she also devours all or part of the placenta, licks up the fluids, washes and cleans her newly delivered infant, and holds it protectively to her body. In our own species the exhausted mother relies on companions to perform all these activities (or modern equivalents of them). After the birth is over it may take a day or two for the mother's milk-flow to get started, but once this has happened she then feeds the baby regularly in this way for a period of up to two years. The average suckling period is shorter than this, however, and modern practice has tended to reduce it to six to nine months. During this time the menstrual cycle of the female is normally suppressed and the menstrual flow usually reappears only when she stops breast-feeding and starts to wean the baby. If infants are weaned unusually early, or if they are bottle-fed, this delay does not, of course, occur, and the female can start breeding again more quickly. If, on the other hand, she follows the more primitive system and feeds the infant for a full two-year period, she is liable to produce offspring only about once in three years. (Suckling is sometimes deliberately prolonged in this way as a contraceptive technique.) With a reproductive life-span of approximately thirty years, this puts her natural productivity capacity at about ten offspring. With bottle-feeding or rapidly curtailed breast-feeding, the figure could theoretically rise to thirty: The act of suckling is more of a problem for females of our species than for other primates. The infant is so helpless that the mother has to take a much more active part in the process, holding the baby to the breast and guiding its actions. Some mothers have difficulty in persuading their offspring to suck efficiently. The usual cause of this trouble is that the nipple is not protruding far enough into the baby's mouth. It 92
is not enough for the infant's lips to close on the nipple, it must be inserted deeper into its mouth, so that the front part of the nipple is in contact with the palate and the upper surface of the tongue. Only this stimulus will release the jaw, tongue and cheek action of intense sucking. To achieve this juxtaposition, the region of breast immediately behind the nipple must be pliable and yielding. It is the length of 'hold' that the baby can manage on this yielding tissue which is critical. It is essential that suckling should be fully operative within four or five days of birth, if the breast-feeding process is to be successfully developed. If repeated failure occurs during the first week, the infant will never give the full response. It will have become fixated on the more rewarding (bottle) alternative offered. Another suckling difficulty is the so-called 'fighting at the breast' response of certain infants. This often gives the mother the impression that the baby does not want to suck, but in reality it means that, despite desperate attempts to do so, it is failing because it is being suffocated. A slightly maladJusted posture of the baby's head at the breast will block the nose and, with the mouth full, there is no way for it to breathe. It is fighting, not to avoid sucking, but for air. There are, of course, many such problems that face the new mother, but I have selected these two because they seem to add supporting evidence for the idea of the female breast as predominantly a sexual signalling device, rather than an expanded milk machine. It is the solid, rounded shape that causes both these problems. One has only to look at the design of the teats on babies' bottles to see the kind of shape that works best. It is much longer and does not swell out into the great rounded hemisphere that causes so much difficulty for the baby's mouth and nose. It is much closer in design to the feeding apparatus of the female chimpanzee. She develops slightly swollen breasts, but even in full lactation she is flat-chested when compared with the average female of our own species. Her nipples, on the other hand, are much more elongated and protrusive and the infant has little or no difficulty in initiating the sucking activity. Because our females 93
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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
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 and 66: sexual contacts. In this particular
Page 67 and 68: This may also explain why the male
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: CHAPTER THREE REARING THE burden of
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
Page 117 and 118: Writing, a formalised offshoot of p
Page 119 and 120: and clothing, in furniture and cars
Page 121 and 122: contacts immensely difficult and wi
Page 123 and 124: epeatedly bite themselves, or pull
Page 125 and 126: on the other hand, of vital signifi
Page 127 and 128: in respiratory activity. Breathing
Page 129 and 130: under the extreme conditions of agg
Page 131 and 132: formalised into rhythmic twistings
Page 133 and 134: sdditional energy on it, and it is
Page 135 and 136: the grooming itself. Monkeys make g
Page 137 and 138: 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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