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" Although elephants are far more distantly related to us than the great apes, they seem to have evolved similar social and cognitive capacities. "
Frans de Waal
Social
Cognitive
Far
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" The intuitive connection children feel with animals can be a tremendous source of joy. The unconditional love received from pets, and the lack of artifice in the relationship, contrast sharply with the much trickier dealings with members of their own species. "
Frans de Waal
Love
Feel
Children
" Very long ago our ancestors had moral systems. Our current institutions are only a couple of thousand years old, which is really not old in the eyes of a biologist. "
Frans de Waal
Long
Eyes
Ancestors
" Octopuses have hundreds of suckers, each one equipped with its own ganglion with thousands of neurons. These 'mini-brains' are interconnected, making for a widely distributed nervous system. That is why a severed octopus arm may crawl on its own and even pick up food. "
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" When humans behave murderously, such as inflicting senseless slaughter of innocents in warfare, we like to blame it on some dark, 'animalistic' instinct. "
Frans de Waal
Some
Like
Instinct
" Chimps cannot tell us anything about peaceful relations, because chimps have only different degrees of hostility between communities. Whereas bonobos do tell us something; they tell us about the possibility of having peaceful relationships. "
Frans de Waal
Tell
Different
Peaceful
" Religions have a strong binding function and a cohesive element. They emphasize the primacy of the community as opposed to the individual, and they also help set one community apart from another that doesn't share their beliefs. "
Frans de Waal
Community
Help
Religions
" There is little evidence that other animals judge the appropriateness of actions that do not directly affect themselves. "
Frans de Waal
Evidence
Judge
Other
" If there is any form of contagion that is adaptive, it is the immediate response to the fear of others. If others are fearful, there may be good reason for you to be fearful too. "
Frans de Waal
Others
You
Fear
" Humans have a lot of pro-social tendencies. "
Frans de Waal
Humans
Tendencies
Lot
" After World War II it was decided that, in order to prevent the Germans and the French from having another war, it would be better to tie them together into one economic pact so they would invest in each other and have mutual stakes. Until now, that has worked to prevent warfare between the two. "
Frans de Waal
Tie
War
Together
" Personally, I think it is possible to build a society that is moral on a nonreligious basis, but the jury is still out on that. "
Frans de Waal
Build
Possible
Moral
" Male chimpanzees have an extraordinarily strong drive for dominance. They're constantly jockeying for position. "
Frans de Waal
Position
Male
Drive
" There are beautiful examples of art done by chimpanzees in human care. "
Frans de Waal
Done
Human
Art
" The fact that the apes exist and that we can study them is extremely important and makes us reflect on ourselves and our human nature. In that sense alone, you need to protect the apes. "
Frans de Waal
Need
Alone
Human Nature
" It is well known that apes in the wild offer spontaneous assistance to each other, defending against leopards, say, or consoling distressed companions with tender embraces. "
Frans de Waal
Well
Wild
Spontaneous
" There's a long tradition in Western thought that humans are not shackled by biology, whereas animals are pure instinct machines. "
Frans de Waal
Tradition
Pure
Animals
" The term 'alpha female' originated in my field of animal behavior, but has acquired new meaning. It refers to women who are in charge, for example, by flirting and dating on their own terms. It is also used maliciously for a loud-mouthed, controlling woman who has no patience with deviating opinions. "
Frans de Waal
Dating
Animal
Patience
" War is evitable if conditions are such that the costs of making war are higher than the benefits. "
Frans de Waal
Benefits
War
Than
" Experiments with animals have long been handicapped by our anthropocentric attitude: We often test them in ways that work fine with humans but not so well with other species. "
Frans de Waal
Test
Attitude
Animals
" It is hard to get animals which normally pay little attention to each other to do things together. One can teach dolphins to jump simultaneously out of the water precisely because they show similar behavior spontaneously, but try to make two domestic cats jump together and you will fail. "
Frans de Waal
Animals
Together
Water
" Closeness to animals creates the desire to understand them, and not just a little piece of them, but the whole animal. It makes us wonder what goes on in their heads even though we fully realize that the answer can only be approximated. "
Frans de Waal
Animals
Realize
Wonder
" You should know as much as you can about the human species if you have a hand in designing human society. "
Frans de Waal
Human
Know
Much
" Our brains have been designed to blur the line between self and other. It is an ancient neural circuitry that marks every mammal, from mouse to elephant. "
Frans de Waal
Been
Blur
Line
" The whole reason people fill their homes with furry carnivores and not with, say, iguanas and turtles, is because mammals offer something no reptile ever will. They give affection, they want affection, and respond to our emotions the way we do to theirs. "
Frans de Waal
Want
Emotions
Say
" Very ancient parts of the brain are involved in moral decision making. "
Frans de Waal
Involved
Decision
Brain
" What is the evolutionary value of blushing? It seems not to be to our advantage to do it, to involuntarily reveal our inner emotions. If we're trying to manipulate or lie, actions in furtherance of individual goals as opposed to the goals of others, blushing would not seem to be helpful. And yet everyone blushes, except the psychopath. "
Frans de Waal
Lie
Trying
Value
" Chimpanzees have very strong preferences and aversions that are completely personality-linked. The people who are unsuccessful in working with chimpanzees are those who take this personally. "
Frans de Waal
Take
Very
Who
" People want to work with somebody who feels shame, who worries about the perceptions of others. Dishonesty is something we don't like in others. "
Frans de Waal
Work
Shame
People
" I'm personally a nonbeliever, so I'm struggling with if we really need religion. "
Frans de Waal
Personally
Religion
Really
" Female bonobos form a strong sisterhood. They rule through female solidarity. "
Frans de Waal
Through
Strong
Sisterhood