Jane Goodall described no greater shock than when she first observed chimpanzees behave in a manner that she famously characterized as “genocide.”
Her unsettling observations were the first evidence that the calculated barbarity, savagery and sadism so well documented in our own species also existed in the animal kingdom. The fact that such “human” behaviors were exhibited in primates was a stunning revelation to the scientific world.
Less noticed, but arguably more significant, is the fact that our “civilized” species exhibits such animalistic behavior in the first place. We, especially here in the U.S., cannot escape being inundated with news of violence and bloodshed of an almost hopeless magnitude.
Attend the lecture:
Carroll 111 — 7 p.m. Tuesday.
