This innovative book challenges the perceived view, based
largely on long observation of artificially-fed chimpanzees in
Gombe and Mahale National Parks, Tanzania, of the typical social
behaviour of chimpanzees as aggressive, dominance seeking, and
fiercely territorial. In polar opposition, all reports from
naturalistic non-feeding field studies are of non-aggressive
chimpanzees living peacefully in non-hierarchical groups, on home
ranges open to all. These reports have been ignored and downgraded
by most of the scientific community. By utilising the data from
these studies the author is able to construct a model of an
egalitarian form of social organisation, based on a fluid role
relationship of mutual dependence between many charismatic
chimpanzees of both sexes and other more dependent members. This
highly and necessarily positive mutual dependence system is
characteristic of both undisturbed chimpanzees and undisturbed
humans who live by the ''immediate-return'' foraging system.
目錄:
Foreword A. Montagu
Acknowledgements
Part I. Methods and Prefatory Explanations
Part II. The Human Foragers
Part III. The Changing Social Order
Part IV. The Behaviour of Wild and Provisioned Groups: A
Theoretical Analysis
Part V. The Mutual Dependence System
Part VI. The Egalitarian Chimpanzees
Part VII. Probabilities, Possibilities and Half-Heard
Whispers
Notes
References
Index