Research Catalog

Title

The ape and the sushi master : cultural reflections by a primatologist / Frans de Waal.

Author

Waal, F. B. M. de (Frans B. M.), 1948-

Publication

New York : Basic Books, c2001.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

viii, 433 p., [16] p. of plates : ill.; 22 cm.

Summary

"The Ape and the Sushi Master challenges our most basic assumptions about who we are and how we differ from other animals. In a delightful mix of autobiographical anecdote, rigorous research, and speculation, eminent primatologist Frans de Waal leads us to consider the possibility that apes have their own culture. We think that only we humans are culturally free and sophisticated, varying our behavior from group to group. But what if apes react to situations with behavior learned through observation of their elders (culture) rather than through pure genetic instinct (nature)? Such a scenario shakes our centuries-old convictions about what makes humans distinct. It also counters our recent tendency to look at other animals as slaves of their genetic programs: if animals learn from each other the way we do, this brings them much closer to us."--Jacket.

Subjects

• Behavior
• Behavior, Animal
• Human behavior
• Animal behavior
• Psychology, Comparative

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 389-405) and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

Whole animal : childhood talismans and excessive fear of anthropomorphism -- Fate of gurus : when silverbacks become stumbling blocks -- Bonobos and fig leaves : primate hippies in a Puritan landscape -- Animal art : would you hang a Congo on the wall? -- Predicting Mount Fuji, and a visit to Koshima, where the monkeys salt their potatoes -- Last rubicon : can other animals have culture? -- Nutcracker Suite : reliance on culture in nature -- Cultural naturals : tea and Tibetan macaques -- Apes with self-esteem : Abraham Maslow and the taboo on power -- Survival of the kindest : of selfish genes and unselfish dogs -- Down with dualism! : two millennia of debate about human goodness.

ISBN

0465041752 (alk. paper)

LCCN

^^^00057922^

OCLC

• 44579006
• SCSB-10055065

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library