Humans: We're (Just?) Really Evolved Primates
Thoughts from spending time at the zoo
I never thought I cared much for zoos, but I’ve been spending a semi-exhorbitant amount of time at zoos lately. We splurged for an annual membership to the Columbus Zoo, and I’m not sure if me or the kids get more excited about going1. We also visited a free Canadian zoo with more unusual animals than we get exposed to here! The zoo can be so crowded and overstimulating and hot. But then I get to the sea lion exhibit, and I watch them swim and bark and glide right past the viewing window, and my whole nervous system takes a deep breath and calms right down.
If the kids don’t get bored too fast, I like to read the informational signs about the animals. Which leads us to the topic for today’s post:
Similar to how gazing at a dark night sky of stars makes one feel a sense of awe and smallness in the galaxy, exposing oneself to the magnificent variety of the animal kingdom *can* make one remember how we really are creatures of the planet, and essentially really, really evolved mammals.
Of course, I couldn’t always believe this: once upon a time I had to believe that we were not in any way evolved, and that our god created us out of dust into fully formed humans, with Eve being created from Adam’s rib. All of creation was done in 6 days, with the birds and fish coming along in day 5 and animals and the two humans showing up on day 6.
Now, I read that portion of Genesis as a poem and an interesting creation myth, one of many creation myths across religions. And while I don’t fully understand how evolution works since I didn’t pursue biology in my educational path, I understand the basic principles of quirks or adaptations occurring and the ones that gave better survival chances being the ones that stuck around. Meanwhile, in so believing, I horrify every fundamentalist from my past who sincerely believed that by indoctrinating me and not exposing me to the real world, I would somehow stay naive and fundamentalist forever.
Reading zoo signs, I found myself fascinated by the mating patterns of other primates. Gorillas, for instance, live in groups led by one dominant silverback male. Numerous female gorillas will travel with him along with various inferior (weaker) males, who are subpar mating choices for the female but still acceptable if they don’t have better options.
Which made me ponder: is this kind of akin to polygamous practices, e.g. by extremist Mormon sects that documentaries are made about, that humans engage in?
Another sign I read in a primate exhibit (can’t remember what variety and can’t find it on the internet in my brief search!) shared about how these primates raise young by groups of females living together in a kind of kinship arrangement, helping collectively raise the babies. The males are around for mating but otherwise have very little to do with the young.
Frankly, this sounds like an arrangement some men today would be satisfied with *rolls eyes*. And I have to say: after spending time in Canada with some other women of child-rearing age and having enjoyed the mutuality of support, I could go for some female-centric childrearing arrangements.
Finally, this interesting Forbes article wonders about what we can learn about human social and gender dynamics by studying the patterns of different primates. Sheer size matters: according to a researcher cited in this article, if male primates are 30% or more larger than the females, there is little hope for gender equality. Male humans are usually 15-20% larger than females, putting equality in reach. (side note, this makes my relative fearlessness for my physical safety while running or solo camping make a lot more sense: I might not be as strong as most men but I am as tall as most men. Even though it’s not a guarantee of safety, it does give me some physical confidence).
Females’ control over reproduction has a giant impact on gender equality, which of course is why conservatives are so eager to take away women’s reproductive rights. Animal-wise, researchers have studied lemurs, whose females have a very limited window for reproducing every year (from hours to days long). That means that if males want their genetics passed down, they have to do whatever the females want, especially if the females are in short supply in a particular group!
The news has been coming at us through a firehose this week, from the assassination attempt over the weekend to the VP pick of JD Vance (apologies from Ohio 👋), a man drunk on the potential of his own power who unfortunately has the skill and cunning to actually implement much of the agenda of Project 2025. Devastation is still happening in Gaza, and Ukraine, and across the world. Sometimes it doesn’t seem like we’ve evolved much at all. Humanity seems to lust for violence and thirst for power.
On the other hand, I also marvel at the capacity of humans, in a beautiful, inspiring way. In my profession, I regularly am amazed at how we can use language in so many nuanced, careful, meaningful ways. We can find just the right word to describe an emotional state. We can be liberated by a few words in a phrase that turn our perspective around. With the guidance of words, we can discover body-based modes of healing that set something loose that had been trapped in our nervous system for years, even decades.
We’re capable of so much hatred, but we also have potential for so much love. It’s tempting to fall into despair and hopelessness… but I can’t believe that we have come this far (an evolutionary miracle!!) only to be stopped at this point. Surely there’s something beyond this. I’d like to choose to see the primates as proof of our ever-evolving nature, if we can just view them with a lens of hopefulness.
I am not even exaggerating. I really like them. Also, just like the Olympics, the dynamics behind zoos are complex. But I do appreciate that a lot of the animals there are rescued and being rehabilitated, which makes the whole enterprise feel less bad.
As someone who went to 52 zoos in 52 weeks once upon a time 🤣 (and wrote an ebook about it), I’ve also done a lot of pondering about animals and humans and zoos. (I was actually interviewed on NPR radio about it and they blasted me omg) I do very much lament that the version of me that embarked on this adventure was soooooo Christian and clueless. 😩 Loved reading this, friend.
I was also a huge fan of the sea lions during my days of searching for distractions for four young children. By far my favorite part of the zoo trips.