Re: Hierarchy In the Forest

On Tue, 24 Oct 2000, Henry W Vandenburgh wrote:

> Re the chimp stuff.  There's plenty of evidence that humans are more
> closely related to bonobos (a species that looks very similar to the first
> homos).  Bonobos are egalitarian, sexually open.  Combat, when it occurs,
> is even more ritualized than with chimps.  In bonobos, dominance positions
> of females are more important than males.  

According to Boehm, bonobos are not really egalitarian at all.  They form
power coalitions centered on mother-son ties, and are less extremely
hierarchical than gorillas, chimps, or the champs, modern-day humans. 
And as for which other chimp we're more closely related to (we being the
3rd chimp), I don't remember what Boehm argues, but picking bonobos when
they better fit our normative ideals seems a bit fishy.

Seriously though, a discussion among people who had read Boehm's book
would be better...

RH