The bipolar monkey

Carlos Alberto Montaner

Time magazine recently selected the world's 100 most important people. These classifications are always arbitrary, but among the chosen scientists there was one who deserved being on the list: Frans de Waal, a brilliant Dutch primatologist who lives in the United States. De Waal specializes in the behavior of chimpanzees and bonobos, the primates closest to human beings, with whom we share 95 percent of our DNA and much of our behavior, features and habitual gestures.

Probably six million years ago, the three species branched out of a common trunk. We humans evolved toward what another primatologist, Desmond Morris, some decades ago called “the naked ape,” i.e., hairless creatures. However, chimpanzees and bonobos (also known as pygmy chimps) continued to resemble each other, to the extent that it wasn't until 1929 that the experts realized they were two different species.

Despite their common physical characteristics, chimpanzees and bonobos behave in totally different ways. The chimps -- despite what Tarzan and Cheeta tried to show us -- are very aggressive. They impose their leadership by dint of blows and bites, use branches and stones to maim or kill their victims, and murder and devour any chimpanzees from other communities who invade their territory. The males commit infanticide, killing the offspring of other monkeys to make sure their descendants will prevail.

Chimp hierarchy is invariably presided by a ferocious Alpha male who heads a kind of animal patriarchy that includes the privilege of sexual possession of several females. He establishes, maintains and renews that hierarchy amid a constant climate of intimidation and aggression against the other members of the pack.

The bonobos are different. Among bonobos, the favorite pastime is not confrontation but sex. Instead of intimidating, they seduce. Besides, the females are in charge. Because they are weaker, they band together to subjugate the males. They release tensions by sexually coupling.

They are called the “hippie monkeys” because they make love, not war, while associating in some very human ways. They kiss in the mouth and use their tongues. The French kiss could well be called the Bonobo kiss. Sometimes, they trade food for sex. The couples copulate face to face, in the so-called “missionary position,” the male atop the female.

They all frequently practice various forms of bisexualism. When females meet and desire sex -- something that often happens because their genitals are permanently swollen and inviting -- they embrace in the missionary position so they can rub their genitals. The males do the same. Mothers pacify their babies with frequent caresses.

Bonobos perform oral sex on each other and all others. They are not aggressive toward strangers. Because there are no dominant males and sexual relations are multiple and constant, all look lovingly after the babies because no one is sure of who begat whom.

This is where De Waal comes in. The Dutchman has written a fascinating book titled “Our Inner Ape.” The principal thesis is that the human apes, ourselves, are a combination of the chimpanzee and the bonobo. What's most significant is not whether our bodies are covered with hair but our bipolarity. 

We share the features of both animals. We can be merciless with strangers, like the chimpanzees, but we also know tenderness and compassion and use sex strategically as a form of manipulation. Human males can lust after all females, or vice versa, but we gather in monogamous families to preserve social peace.

The scientific speculation generated by De Waal is extremely rich. If we descend from an ancestral chimp-bonobo, all human monkeys have a broad genetic composition that encompasses different proportions. There are humans in whom the bonobo prevails, and others in whom the chimpanzee's nature is dominant.

Some of this was intuited by psychoanalysis, when it posited that men had a feminine side and women a male component. Some of this was divined by the Asians, when they established the ying-yang duality that exists in nature. Maybe that's why some people say men are from Mars and women are from Venus, even though we all know Venusian men and Martian women. No doubt about it, Charles Darwin lives. The debate goes on.

May 20, 2007

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