by Frans de Waal, who has died of cancer aged 75, was a renowned Dutch-American primatologist who not only changed our understanding of animal life but raised important questions about the human condition.
For de Waal, as for other post-Darwinian evolutionary biologists, chimps, bonobos, macaques and humans are simply different types of geese but, according to de Waal, ones with more characteristics than is commonly thought.
In a series of books de Waal argued that while animal primates, like humans, can be violent and aggressive, they are also capable of compassion and altruism and have a concept of fairness that underlies the human moral compass. Although the stereotypical aggressive alpha male sometimes rises to the top of chimpanzee society, his reign is usually short and ends in murder or exile. Usually the most popular and successful alphas are not necessarily “the biggest, strongest, baddest around … Most alphas protect the underdog, keep the peace and reassure those is in trouble.”
He discovered that even chimps are capable of guilt and shame, emotions that were supposed to be completely human. “The standard conception of humanity as the only form of life that has made the step from the natural to the cultural realm is in dire need of correction,” said de Waal.
These were provocative views early on, not because they contradicted the religious idea that humans bear only the image of God, but because they conflicted with progressive theories that white slates are born on humanity, unconstrained by biological determinism and free to design. their own behavior – an assumption that some people consider absolutely necessary to give them any hope of curing society’s ills. De Waal was also sometimes accused of anthropomorphism – attributing human characteristics to animals with little evidence. He replied that the problem was human exceptionalism.
De Waal has never shied away from controversy. His 2013 book The Bonobo and the Atheist asked whether religious belief was an essential part of human morality. He concluded that morality comes from within, and is part of human nature; religion plays a secondary role.
Then, in his last book Different: What Apes Can Teach Us About Gender (2022), he marched fearlessly on one of the most vexed debates of our time.
His basic premise was that males and females behave differently and that these differences have a basis in biology. “When scientists have studied how monkeys respond to toys, it has turned out that their preferences are not, so to speak, sexually neutral,” he wrote. “Monkeys appear to have mimicked the sex-linked preferences of human children. Cars, trucks and balls were chosen more by men; a woman’s favorite doll.”
If gender roles have a biological basis, the skills implicit in those roles must still be acquired through learning and imitation. Female orphans in zoos often have no idea what to do with newborns when they become adults: the males surprised a female bonbonbo who grew up in a human home and she clearly grew up when she met her own kind.
“Gender fluctuation”, meanwhile, is common in animal and human societies. Bonobos, which are genetically as close to humans as chimpanzees, often have homosexual sex, and even when a particular trait is selected for in one sex it will also be present in members of the other sex until a lesser but still important level. degree; in all primate species there are males with more feminine characteristics and female toms. The flexibility to change social roles contributes to survival.
Just as in human societies, too, there are “outliers” who do not conform to gender stereotypes: a female chimpanzee named Donna raised her hairy coat like a male, enjoyed wrestling with alpha males and showed no interest in mating with men. ; a capuchin monkey named Lonnie who was completely gay had a sexual relationship. De Waal claimed that between five and 10 percent of chimpanzee populations are “gender nonconforming apes.”
Unlike human society, however, chimpanzees and other animal primates are fully accepting of this diversity. Regarding animals, de Waal said, “I don’t find the kind of intolerance we have in human societies.”
One of seven boys, Franciscus Bernardus Maria “Frans” de Waal was born on 29 October 1948 in s’Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands, where he trained as a zoologist and ethologist at the universities of Nijmegen, Groningen and Utrecht, where he he is in training as a zoologist and ethologist. PhD under the biologist Jan van Hooff, with a thesis entitled “Agonistic interactions and relationships among Java monkeys”, regarding aggressive behavior and alliance formation in macaques.
Subsequent research with the world’s largest captive colony of chimpanzees, at Arnhem Zoo, formed the basis of his first book, Chimpanzee Politics: Power and Sex Among Apes (1982), which compared the behavior of chimps involved in struggles. power with the behavior of human politicians. and offered the first description of primate behavior in terms of planned social strategies, reconciliation and coalition building. Chimps, he pointed out, often come together after fights and kiss and make out. Newt Gingrich would put a book by Waal on the reading list he gave to new Republicans entering the US House of Representatives in 1994.
In 1981 de Waal moved to the United States to join the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center, from where he transferred in 1991 to Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, where he became Professor of Primate Behavior in the Department of Psychology and director of the Living Links. Center at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center.
Over the past twenty years, in scientific papers and a series of popular books, de Waal has gone on to shatter long-held ideas about what it means to be an animal and a human being. In 2007 Time magazine included him in its list of the 100 most influential people in the world.
Much of the popular appeal of his books was in the stories. He wrote about how two grizzled male chimps, usually sworn enemies, put their arms around each other’s shoulders to form a barrage between a newborn and a threatening young alpha male, and about a bonobo named Kuni picking up an injured starling, he climbed a tree. , spread the wings of the bird and then release it.
Perhaps his most affecting story, told in Mama’s Last Hug (2019), is the last encounter between an aging chimpanzee matriarch at Arnhem Zoo and Jan van Hooff, who studied her for over 40 years. Even though Mummy was on her deathbed, Mummy could be dangerous so van Hooff proceeded with caution.
In de Waal’s account, the chimp sensed his fury and cuddled up to him, whispering softly in his ear and tapping her fingers on his neck and the back of his head, just as she would soothe a startled, frightened infant. She died soon after. Footage of their farewell has been viewed more than 10 million times online.
Among many honors, de Waal was a Knight of the Order of the Lion of the Netherlands and elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the US National Academy of Sciences.
In 1980 de Waal married Catherine Marin, who survives him.
Frans de Waal, born 29 October 1948, died 14 March 2024
