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From: chrish@videovax.tv.tek.com (Chris Hawes)
Newsgroups: sci.bio,soc.men,soc.women,soc.singles
Subject: Re: Are Humans Naturally Monogamous?
Keywords: drives : sex love monogamy
Message-ID: <6120@videovax.tv.tek.com>
Date: 2 Nov 90 00:40:26 GMT
References: <1990Oct24.175532.9407@pmafire.UUCP> <1990Oct26.182603.342@athena.mit.edu> <846@tsnews.Convergent.COM>
Reply-To: chrish@videovax.tv.tek.com (Chris Hawes)
Followup-To: sci.bio
Organization: Tektronix TV Measurement Systems, Beaverton OR
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>Much of this also seems to apply to the larger apes.  Gorilla or 
>chimpanzee infants raised without the opportunity to observe the 
>social, grooming mating and dominance behaviours of their elders 
>rarely mate successfully and never achieve dominance of any sort 
>if they are introduced to a tribe at a later time, and in fact 
>are usually (always?) outcast by the rest in an unconfined 
>setting.  I don't have any references here in my cube, but if 
>there's interest, I or someone who studies primate behaviour 
>less informally can dig them up.

I find that very interesting and am wondering what the implications
are for us humans.  How much less inhibited would humans be if they
were raised in an environment where the parents were "observed"
grooming/mating by their offspring?  Or would  that be traumatic
to human children?  In my home, not only did I never observe my
elders mating, I was presented one of those stork type fairy tales
where babies are not the result of anything I would ever grow up
to have control of.  What are the biological advantages to such
biological ignorance being part of the culture which is guided by
biological evolotion?  

Interesting thought- the part ignorance plays in the "advancement"
of the species.  Ah, the secret to understanding how Dan Quayle
could be vice-president is now revealed to me.

chris