Under The Microscope

SHADOWS OF FORGOTTEN ANCESTORS, by Carl Sagan & Ann Druyan; Random House, 1994; $16.95

It's not often that science writing is informative, accurate and lyrical, but if you're looking for something in that vein, you can't miss with Carl Sagan. The astronomer and exobiologist, with his co-author and spouse, has given us a look at how various forces on this planet have come to shape the questioning, bipedal mammals that make war and read books.

The former activity is of more relevance to this work, as Sagan and Druyan discuss the primal primate characteristics of aggression and high testosterone levels and their influence on everything from chimps to civilisation.

Like many writers, they have looked at the hierarchies, behaviour and adaptations of our nearest cousins and drawn parallels with the human conditions. Unlike many of the more glib writers calling on sociobiology for legitimacy -- Desmond Morris and Robert Ardrey spring to mind -- they are aware of the dangers of making those parallels converge.

I might have wished for some more estrogen-based reflections in amongst the accounts of dominance relationships, sexual politics and male bonding. They are there, but we are dealing, after all, with the territoriality, xenophobia and alpha malehood that has implications for our own social structures and development.

We have much to learn from studying our close relations, Sagan and Druyan argue. The difference between ourselves and chimpanzees is just 0.4% of the active genetic sequences in our DNA -- it's a sobering thought that fewer than a hundred enzymes could determine who's on which side of the bars of the cage. Small wonder that Victorian students of nature were haunted by "mortifying reflections" when confronted with the distinctive and obvious similarities between the primates.

There will be readers today who will be mortified by the often frank discussion of primate sexual habits, particularly the aptly titled chapter "Gangland" where it's a tad difficult to tell whether it's the fairly reprehensible behaviour of chimps or a species closer to home under scrutiny. Yet you have to recognise that we do share much with those we have dismissed for too long as "mere" animals.

There's a shock of recognition (and yes, mortification) in seeing the relationship between the pseudosexual coupling of chimp males in a dominance hierarchy and the most potent common verbal abuse of "F... you". The writers comment rather dryly that we have converted a postural image into a linguistic one with barely a change in nuance. That may not be a popular thing to say, but Sagan and Druyan argue that it is vital to recognise our ancestry and its implications if we are to counteract the genetic programming we are heir to.

"We must stop pretending we're something we're not," they write. "Somewhere between romantic, uncritical anthropomorphizing of the animals and an anxious, obdurate refusal to recognize our kinship with them...there is a broad middle ground on which we humans can take our stand."

It's an important message and, within the authors' conclusions, a potentially inspiring one if we are only "man enough" to grasp it.

Vicki Hyde, NZSM

Vicki Hyde is the editor of New Zealand Science Monthly.