Pan paniscus

“If people laugh at primates at the zoo, they do so, I suspect, precisely because they're unsettled by the mirror held up to them.”

― Frans de Waal, Our Inner Ape: A Leading Primatologist Explains Why We Are Who We Are

“I sometimes try to imagine what would have happened if we’d known the bonobo first and the chimpanzee only later—or not at all. The discussion about human evolution might not revolve as much around violence, warfare and male dominance, but rather around sexuality, empathy, caring and cooperation. What a different intellectual landscape we would occupy!”

― Frans de Waal, Our Inner Ape: A Leading Primatologist Explains Why We Are Who We Are

“Ultimately these battles are about females, which means that the fundamental difference between our two closest relatives is that one resolves sexual issues with power, while the other resolves power issues with sex.”

― Frans de Waal, Our Inner Ape: A Leading Primatologist Explains Why We Are Who We Are

“Being both more systematically brutal than chimps and more empathetic than bonobos, we are by far the most bipolar ape. Our societies are never completely peaceful, never completely competitive, never ruled by sheer selfishness, and never perfectly moral.”

― Frans de Waal

“I have sat through entire conferences on adolescent human behavior without ever hearing the words power and sex, even though to me they are what teen life is all about. When I bring it up, usually everyone nods and thinks it’s marvelously refreshing how a primatologist looks at the world, then continue on their merry way focusing on self-esteem, body image, emotion regulation, risk-taking, and so on. Given a choice between manifest human behavior and trendy psychological constructs, the social sciences always favor the latter. Yet among teens, there is nothing more obvious than the exploration of sex, the testing of power, and the seeking of structure.”

― Frans de Waal, Mama's Last Hug: Animal Emotions and What They Tell Us about Ourselves

“We have a tendency to describe the human condition in lofty terms, such as a quest for freedom or striving for a virtuous life, but the life sciences hold a more mundane view: It’s all about security, social companionships, and a full belly. There is obvious tension between both views, which recalls that famous dinner conversation between a Russian literary critic and the writer Ivan Turgenev: 'We haven’t yet solved the problem of God,' the critic yelled, 'and you want to eat!”

― Frans de Waal, The Age of Empathy: Nature's Lessons for a Kinder Society