Do Big Brains Make Us Smart?

The Answer is No     Humans have the largest brain-to-body ratio of any animal. We have giant, complicated, brains that should make us the smartest animals on  Earth. But oddly, we spend so much of our time trying to dull that intelligence—we drink alcohol, take drugs, go shopping, have sex, watch TV, look at our phones for hours, read, talk to each other a lot, and spend most of the day with useless thoughts wandering through all those brain cells.   In other words, we have big brains but can’t handle…

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Monkey Fake News

When the Public is Fed the Wrong Information About Primates     A recent article about Japanese macaque monkeys went viral, even getting exposure on Stephen Colbert, because of its provocative headline: “Love Triangle Challenges Reign of Japan’s Monkey Queen.” But that idiotic headline, based on inaccurate reporting, was simply fake news. I know this because as an anthropologist, I spent many years observing and searching about macaques and the reporter doesn’t seem to have any idea how these animals operate. When someone is educated and experienced in a profession or a…

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Mama’s Boys

Male Chimpanzees Always Need Their Mothers     Motherhood is intense. A new mom not only has to recover from the birth and start breastfeeding, which is behaviorally and physically demanding but she also (usually) becomes life for a growing toddler. Children start out greatly dependent on their mothers, but that attachment wanes as kids grow up and become independent. But mothers can have a deep and lasting effect later in life when they contribute financially, allow adult children to live at home, or give emotional support even when their kids are…

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Chimpanzee Moms are Cool

If you think it’s been a hot summer in America, try living in southeast Senegal, especially in the dry savannah area of Fongoli where temperatures rise to 110 degrees Fahrenheit. Then try being a chimpanzee, an animal covered in hair but one that is smart enough to turn on a cold shower if only there was any running water around. But researchers have observed that Senegalese chimps do have a natural way to beat the heat — they duck into a series of cool caves when the temperature is unbearably hot. The…

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