The Third Chimpanzee
Encyclopedia
The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal (1991/2004) is a wide-ranging book by Jared Diamond
, professor of geography
and physiology
at the University of California, Los Angeles
(UCLA), which applies insights from biology
, anthropology
, and linguistics
to questions such as why one species of big mammal
(human
s) came to dominate its closest relatives, such as chimpanzee
s, and why one group of humans (eurasia
ns) came to dominate others (Indigenous peoples of the Americas
).
It also examines how asymmetry in male and female mating
behaviour is resolved through differing social structures across cultures, and how first contact
between unequal civilizations almost always results in genocide
. The book ends by noting that technological progress may cause environmental degradation
on a scale leading to extinction.
The original title (1991) was The Rise and Fall of the Third Chimpanzee: How Our Animal Heritage Affects the Way We Live (ISBN 978-0-09-174268-3), the current title was adopted with the third edition in 2006. In between, the second edition of 2004 was titled The Rise and Fall of the Third Chimpanzee: Evolution and Human Life.
Diamond has expanded on these themes in subsequent books:
, linguistics
, anthropology
), to evolutionary biology, the Third Chimpanzee compiles a portrait of humanity's success and also its potential for disaster.
The book is divided into five parts. Part one deals with the similarity between humans and chimpanzees.
Thus the chimp's closest relatives are not the other apes with which it is classed, but the human (see Homininae
). In fact, the chimpanzee-human difference is smaller than some within-species distances: e.g. even closely related birds such as the red-eyed and white-eyed vireos differ by 2.9%. Going by genetic differences, humans should be treated as a third species of chimpanzee (after the common chimpanzee
and the bonobo
)
, and the Christian West. It also considers questions of longevity – the previous generation dies because its biological clock shuts down metabolism and repair, so that the new progeny does not have to compete with them.
Part three extends the effects of sexual selection into language, art, hunting and agriculture, through the idea of honest signaling - sexual signals that also cost the signer. This is extrapolated to explain the appeal of drugs. Finally, the possibility of contact with extraterrestrial intelligence (Diamond thinks that would be a disaster).
The process of first contact
between differing civilizations is examined through the descriptions of Papua New Guinea
highlanders, who were first visited half a century back. Historically, Diamond argues that such contacts between widely differing populations have very frequently culminated in the extinction of the disadvantaged groups like many native American
tribes, the Tasmania
ns, etc. There is a long list of genocides in history.
and the ruins of Petra
, both of which were the result of deforestation resulting in desertification.
said, "The Third Chimpanzee will endure." Paul R. Ehrlich
author of The Population Bomb
said, "Brilliant book. It helps us understand what it means to be human."
Jared Diamond
Jared Mason Diamond is an American scientist and author whose work draws from a variety of fields. He is currently Professor of Geography and Physiology at UCLA...
, professor of geography
Geography
Geography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...
and physiology
Physiology
Physiology is the science of the function of living systems. This includes how organisms, organ systems, organs, cells, and bio-molecules carry out the chemical or physical functions that exist in a living system. The highest honor awarded in physiology is the Nobel Prize in Physiology or...
at the University of California, Los Angeles
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...
(UCLA), which applies insights from biology
Biology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
, anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
, and linguistics
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
to questions such as why one species of big mammal
Mammal
Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...
(human
Human
Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...
s) came to dominate its closest relatives, such as chimpanzee
Chimpanzee
Chimpanzee, sometimes colloquially chimp, is the common name for the two extant species of ape in the genus Pan. The Congo River forms the boundary between the native habitat of the two species:...
s, and why one group of humans (eurasia
Eurasia
Eurasia is a continent or supercontinent comprising the traditional continents of Europe and Asia ; covering about 52,990,000 km2 or about 10.6% of the Earth's surface located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres...
ns) came to dominate others (Indigenous peoples of the Americas
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
).
It also examines how asymmetry in male and female mating
Mating
In biology, mating is the pairing of opposite-sex or hermaphroditic organisms for copulation. In social animals, it also includes the raising of their offspring. Copulation is the union of the sex organs of two sexually reproducing animals for insemination and subsequent internal fertilization...
behaviour is resolved through differing social structures across cultures, and how first contact
First contact (anthropology)
First contact is a term describing the first meeting of two cultures previously unaware of one another. One notable example of first contact is that between the Spanish and the Arawak in 1492....
between unequal civilizations almost always results in genocide
Genocide
Genocide is defined as "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group", though what constitutes enough of a "part" to qualify as genocide has been subject to much debate by legal scholars...
. The book ends by noting that technological progress may cause environmental degradation
Environmental degradation
Environmental degradation is the deterioration of the environment through depletion of resources such as air, water and soil; the destruction of ecosystems and the extinction of wildlife...
on a scale leading to extinction.
The original title (1991) was The Rise and Fall of the Third Chimpanzee: How Our Animal Heritage Affects the Way We Live (ISBN 978-0-09-174268-3), the current title was adopted with the third edition in 2006. In between, the second edition of 2004 was titled The Rise and Fall of the Third Chimpanzee: Evolution and Human Life.
Diamond has expanded on these themes in subsequent books:
- Guns, Germs and Steel (1997): why Eurasians came to dominate the Americans, part four of the book, (Pulitzer PrizePulitzer PrizeThe Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
1998), - Why Is Sex Fun? (1997): sexual selectionSexual selectionSexual selection, a concept introduced by Charles Darwin in his 1859 book On the Origin of Species, is a significant element of his theory of natural selection...
, penis size, longevityLongevityThe word "longevity" is sometimes used as a synonym for "life expectancy" in demography or known as "long life", especially when it concerns someone or something lasting longer than expected ....
, (parts 1 and 2) - Collapse (2005): how civilizations over-exploit the environment and become extinct (part 5)
Organization and Summary
Despite the broad canvas, the book manages to link together a coherent argument, much of which was novel at the time of publication. Borrowing insights from fields ranging from the humanities (historyHistory
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
, linguistics
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
, anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
), to evolutionary biology, the Third Chimpanzee compiles a portrait of humanity's success and also its potential for disaster.
The book is divided into five parts. Part one deals with the similarity between humans and chimpanzees.
The chimpanzee's closest relatives (part one)
The title of the book refers to how similar taxonomically chimps and humans are; and that their genes differ by just 1.6%, whereas chimp and gorillas differ by 2.3% (p. 19).Thus the chimp's closest relatives are not the other apes with which it is classed, but the human (see Homininae
Homininae
Homininae is a subfamily of Hominidae, which includes humans, gorillas and chimpanzees, and some extinct relatives; it comprises all those hominids, such as Australopithecus, that arose after the split from orangutans . Our family tree, which has 3 main branches leading to chimpanzees, humans and...
). In fact, the chimpanzee-human difference is smaller than some within-species distances: e.g. even closely related birds such as the red-eyed and white-eyed vireos differ by 2.9%. Going by genetic differences, humans should be treated as a third species of chimpanzee (after the common chimpanzee
Common Chimpanzee
The common chimpanzee , also known as the robust chimpanzee, is a great ape. Colloquially, the common chimpanzee is often called the chimpanzee , though technically this term refers to both species in the genus Pan: the common chimpanzee and the closely related bonobo, formerly called the pygmy...
and the bonobo
Bonobo
The bonobo , Pan paniscus, previously called the pygmy chimpanzee and less often, the dwarf or gracile chimpanzee, is a great ape and one of the two species making up the genus Pan. The other species in genus Pan is Pan troglodytes, or the common chimpanzee...
)
Sexual Selection (parts 2,3)
Part two considers sexual dimorphism in mammals, and particularly humans, and the mechanics of sexual selection. It considers how across species, females are more careful in selecting their mates than males (they invest far more energy into each offspring). This determines much of human behaviour, from how we pick our mates, how we organize society and child nurturing systems, leading to differing social structures in cultures such as Papua New Guinea, KeralaKerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
, and the Christian West. It also considers questions of longevity – the previous generation dies because its biological clock shuts down metabolism and repair, so that the new progeny does not have to compete with them.
Part three extends the effects of sexual selection into language, art, hunting and agriculture, through the idea of honest signaling - sexual signals that also cost the signer. This is extrapolated to explain the appeal of drugs. Finally, the possibility of contact with extraterrestrial intelligence (Diamond thinks that would be a disaster).
World Conquest: (part 4)
Part four considers conquest. Why is it that the Eurasians came to dominate other cultures? Diamond's answer is that in part, this was due to the East-West layout of the Eurasian continent, due to which animals like horses could migrate from one region to another. On the other hand, migration along the N-S axis was much more difficult owing to the severe imbalances of climate. Also, the greater mobility of populations also permits greater resistance to disease, which is another reason why contact among geographically separated cultures often leads to extinction.The process of first contact
First contact (anthropology)
First contact is a term describing the first meeting of two cultures previously unaware of one another. One notable example of first contact is that between the Spanish and the Arawak in 1492....
between differing civilizations is examined through the descriptions of Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...
highlanders, who were first visited half a century back. Historically, Diamond argues that such contacts between widely differing populations have very frequently culminated in the extinction of the disadvantaged groups like many native American
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
tribes, the Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
ns, etc. There is a long list of genocides in history.
Environmental Impact and Extinction (part five)
Here the argument is that civilizations sometimes get caught up in internal superiority contests, and deplete the environment to such an extent that they may never recover. Examples include Easter IslandEaster Island
Easter Island is a Polynesian island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian triangle. A special territory of Chile that was annexed in 1888, Easter Island is famous for its 887 extant monumental statues, called moai, created by the early Rapanui people...
and the ruins of Petra
Petra
Petra is a historical and archaeological city in the Jordanian governorate of Ma'an that is famous for its rock cut architecture and water conduits system. Established sometime around the 6th century BC as the capital city of the Nabataeans, it is a symbol of Jordan as well as its most visited...
, both of which were the result of deforestation resulting in desertification.
Reception
A New York Times book review said, "The book's provocative style forces one to reflect thoroughly on the puzzle of human evolution....Written with great wit and a pleasure to read." Edward O. Wilson of Harvard UniversityHarvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
said, "The Third Chimpanzee will endure." Paul R. Ehrlich
Paul R. Ehrlich
Paul Ralph Ehrlich is an American biologist and educator who is the Bing Professor of Population Studies in the department of Biological Sciences at Stanford University and president of Stanford's Center for Conservation Biology. By training he is an entomologist specializing in Lepidoptera , but...
author of The Population Bomb
The Population Bomb
The Population Bomb was a best-selling book written by Paul R. Ehrlich and his wife, Anne Ehrlich , in 1968. It warned of the mass starvation of humans in the 1970s and 1980s due to overpopulation, as well as other major societal upheavals, and advocated immediate action to limit population growth...
said, "Brilliant book. It helps us understand what it means to be human."