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Most men probably wouldn't want to live the lives of bonobos. They're constantly clinging to their mothers' apron strings. They lack the ability to make decisions about their own fates, something that we and male chimpanzees practically consider our birthright.

Frans de Waal

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Frans de Waal
Age: 76
Born: 1948
Born: October 29
Ethologist
Non-Fiction Writer
Primatologist
Psychologist
University Teacher
Zoologist
Den Bosch
Frans B M de Waal
Frans B. M. de Waal
F. de Waal
Decision
Males
Fates
Ability
Decisions
Chimpanzees
Lives
Lack
Birthright
Mother
Constantly
Clinging
Live
Consider
Practically
Something
Fate
Strings
Make
Wouldn
Mothers
Apron
Men
Probably
Male
Aprons

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Studies of reconciliation in primates have demonstrated that if the relationship value increases between two parties they are more willing to make peace.
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Octopuses have hundreds of suckers, each one equipped with its own ganglion with thousands of neurons. These 'mini-brains' are interconnected, making for a widely distributed nervous system. That is why a severed octopus arm may crawl on its own and even pick up food.
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I think we need to start thinking about grounding our moral systems in our biology.
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Exclusive homosexuality is not very common in nature.
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Popular culture bombards us with examples of animals being humanized for all sorts of purposes, ranging from education to entertainment to satire to propaganda. Walt Disney, for example, made us forget that Mickey is a mouse, and Donald a duck. George Orwell laid a cover of human societal ills over a population of livestock.
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When we are bad, we are worse than any primate that I know. And when we are good, we are actually better and more altruistic than any primate that I know.
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Humans have a lot of pro-social tendencies.
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It is well known that apes in the wild offer spontaneous assistance to each other, defending against leopards, say, or consoling distressed companions with tender embraces.
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In Africa, we have the bush meat trade, which means that, on a very large scale, animals are being killed in the forests and sold in the cities as a luxury food.
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The primate laugh is given in playful contexts, and as such has a strong similarity to the human laugh.
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There's actually a lot of evidence in primates and other animals that they return favors.
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Most exotic animals are not particularly interested in people, which makes it hard to provoke them. Human-rearing gets them used to and sometimes imprinted on humans, which makes them potentially dangerous.
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We, who think like animals living in small groups, must structure a global world. We believe in universal human rights and believe racism and war are wrong. On the other hand, it is our nature to be cooperative and loving almost exclusively with the members of the group to which we feel we belong.
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The enemy of science is not religion... . The true enemy is the substitution of thought, reflection, and curiosity with dogma.
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There is little evidence that other animals judge the appropriateness of actions that do not directly affect themselves.
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Armies are a purely human invention. Most soldiers who go to war nowadays don't even do it because they're inherently aggressive.
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Morality, after all, has nothing to do with selflessness. On the contrary, self-interest is precisely the basis of the categorical imperative.
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You should know as much as you can about the human species if you have a hand in designing human society.
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The chimpanzees could tear me apart in no time. They're many times stronger than we are.
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Female bonobos form a strong sisterhood. They rule through female solidarity.
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