While the chimps were in their indoor habitat, the experimenters buried some grapefruit in a patch of sand in their outdoor habitat. The chimps saw the experimenters go by with the grapefruit, so knew something was up. When released outdoors, they made an apparently unsuccessful search for the grapefruit. Then it was naptime. When the rest of the chimps were asleep, one of the low status males got up, went straight to the buried graperfruit, dug them up and ate them. To me, at least, that is striking evidence not only of rational behavior but of rational thought behind the behavior. The other interesting observation was reflected in the title. The dominant male was not always the biggest or strongest; the political struggle that determined dominance involved an elaborate pattern of shifting alliances. The author argues that while children are shaped by both genetics and environment, the relevant environment for most of them is not the home but the peer group. By her account, none of...
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