Book review: The Naked Ape, by Desmond Morris

I am ashamed to say that I bought The Naked Ape, by Desmond Morris (affiliate links: UK, US) about 15 years ago and, aside from flicking through it idly at the time, I never really sat down and read it properly.  I have now rectified this error.

One of these apes is naked

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What?  Who?

OK, let’s start at the beginning.

I am proud to introduce fellow Englishman Desmond Morris as the author of this book.  Desmond is a zoologist who was a television presenter in the 1950′s but became an (almost) overnight sensation with the release of The Naked Ape in 1967.

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Why was it a sensation?

The Naked Ape was a sensation because Desmond looked at the human being as if it were an animal that had just been discovered.  He made observations about it’s behaviour and appearance and consequently made deductions.

A lot of people were surprised and shocked to be compared with other primates.  It was as if Desmond had held up a mirror to humanity, which previously thought itself a creature of spirit and light only for it to see a brutish chimpanzee-face staring back at it.

Desmond also broke a few taboos by talking in very frank and descriptive terms about human sexual practices.  In fact, his chapter on sex and pre-copulatory practices is one of the most remarkable pieces of scientific writing I have ever come across.  It is very strange to read objectively for the first time about a topic that is so widely referred to in speech and the written word but never really described properly.

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Why is it relevant?

To the health-conscious lifter and paleo eater, The Naked Ape represents a very serious advancement in our understanding of the human animal, it’s origins and normal behaviours.

Desmond is at pains to describe our current environment as more like a zoo than a jungle.  He strongly advises that our zoo is not conducive to a healthy lifestyle and believes that we are headed for some rocky times ahead.

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So what’s it about?

The Naked Ape is a thematic discussion of the human animal, treated as any animal.  The book looks at the animal in various chapters:

1. Origins – Desmond discusses why we are the naked ape and why this makes us special.  He also considers why we are the brainiest ape, and, actually, why we are also the sexiest ape.  Which brings us naturally on to…
2. Sex – In this remarkable chapter, Desmond writes dispassionately about the sexual practices of the human animal and relates and compares them to those of other primates.  There are some startling differences and Desmond explains why they might have come about and what that implies.
3. Rearing – similarly, in this chapter, Desmond looks at the way we raise our children and how fast they develop, which is a function of how clever we have evolved to be.
4. Exploration – different animals are either more neophilic or neophobic.  That is to say they either like new experiences or they dislike new experiences.  Desmond explores how we relate to new things and why it is important to us.
5. Fighting – red with anger or white with fear? Or is it the other way around?  Desmond explores the basic cues that describe our aggressive behaviours.  He also looks at the importance of displays of dominance and submission and how we can see them in society.
6. Feeding – we gathered and we hunted.  Desmond explores how these behaviours changed us.
7. Comfort – Desmond looks at our communications, both verbal and non-verbal, as well as our history of being part of the grooming class of mammals, the primates.
8. Animals – finally, Desmond explores how we relate to other animals, which is a fascinating topic in and of itself.  I am particularly aware of how cats have evolved to exploit our species’ tendency to look after our children for long periods by imitating the sound of human babies.  Jake has the most plaintive meow you will ever hear.

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Some interesting facts I enjoyed

While reading the book, I picked up some very interesting points that resonated with me.  Here they are in no particular order:

• The Aquatic Ape – Desmond makes the point strongly that, as a zoologist, he always looks at animals that share the same features to understand why an animal has a peculiar feature.  What other animals are naked?  Answer: burrowing animals and aquatic animals.  Since we don’t burrow, therefore we must have had some aquatic period in our development.  Thank you, Elaine Morgan for persevering in the face of human cowardice.

The Aquatic Ape Hypothesis

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• The confused ape (part one – food) – Desmond notes that we share something interesting with the giant panda in regard to our dietary evolution.  The giant panda started out as a carnivorous mammal and adapted into a completely vegetarian one.  We started out as a vegetarian primate and became a carnivorous animal.  This means that we have a sort of dual nature and a dual requirement for food.  I wonder whether this is at the bottom of why there are two widely opposing groups of what constitutes a healthy diet.  One the one hand, we have the low-carb, high animal product diets and, on the other, the pure vegetarian diets.
• The confused ape (part two – sex) – Desmond notes that along with the shift from gatherers to hunters came the move from one type of society to another.  The previously promiscuous ape developed a strong pair bond so that the extended periods of time that the males spent hunting did not damage their reproductive chances.
• Red and white facial displays – I did not realise that the display of red-faced anger is not a product of the sympathetic nervous system, which controls the fight or flight condition but is actually the parasympathetic nervous system counter-acting the effects of the sympathetic nervous system.  So when someone is getting red-faced with anger at you, the display signals that they are angry but their body is trying to calm them down because it doesn’t really want to fight.  On the other hand, when someone turns white, the two warring nervous systems have stopped fighting and they are completely ready and poised for action.

There were plenty more but I’ll stop there.

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So why read this book?

If you at all interested in what makes the human being tick, then you need to read this book.  If you are interested in why we eat the things we do and why we are the only primate to be significantly carnivorous, then you need to read this book.