The Evolution of Thought: Evolutionary Origins of Great Ape Intelligence

395 Pages·2004·4.31 MB·English

by  Anne E. Russon

TheEvolutionofThought
EvolutionaryOriginsofGreatApeIntelligence
Research on the evolution of higher intelligence rarely com-
binesdatafromfieldsasdiverseaspaleontologyandpsychol-
ogy. In this volume we seek to do just that, synthesizing the
approachesofhominoidcognition,psychology,languagestud-
ies,ecology,evolution,paleoecology,andsystematicstowardsan
understandingofgreatapeintelligence.Leadingscholarsfrom
allthesefieldshavebeenaskedtoevaluatethemannerinwhich
each of their topics of research informs our understanding of
the evolution of intelligence in great apes and humans. The
ideasthusassembledrepresentthemostcomprehensivesurvey
todateofthevariouscausesandconsequencesofcognitiveevo-
lutioningreatapes.TheEvolutionofThoughtwillthereforebe
anessentialreferenceforgraduatestudentsandresearchersin
evolutionarypsychology,paleoanthropology,andprimatology.
A E. R is a professor of psychology at Glendon
College of York University in Toronto. Since 1989 she has
beenstudyingintelligenceandlearninginex-captiveorangutans
released to free forest life in central and eastern Indonesian
Borneo.
DR.BisaprofessorofanthropologyattheUniver-
sityofToronto.HeisaleadingresearcherinMiocenehominoid
paleobiology.Hiscurrentresearchinterestscenteronthebio-
geography of great ape and human origins and the relations
betweenMiocenehominoidsandtheearliesthumans.

The Evolution of Thought
Evolutionary Origins of Great Ape Intelligence
Editedby
Anne E. Russon
DepartmentofPsychology,GlendonCollege,YorkUniversity,Toronto
David R. Begun
DepartmentofAnthropology,UniversityofToronto,Toronto
cambridge university press
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Contents
Listofcontributors vii 9 Evolutionofcomplexfeedingtechniquesin
Preface ix primates:isthistheoriginofgreatape
intelligence? 140
1 Evolutionaryreconstructionsofgreatape  
intelligence 1
10 Thespecialdemandsofgreatapelocomotion
 . 
andposture 172
2 Enhancedcognitivecapacityasacontingentfact  . 
ofhominidphylogeny 15
11 Greatapesocialsystems 190
 . 
 .  , 
PARTI COGNITIONINLIVINGGREATAPES ,  
. 
Introduction 29
 .  12 Dietandforagingofthegreatapes:ecological
constraintsontheirsocialorganizationsand
3 Themanualskillsandcognitionthatliebehind
implicationsfortheirdivergence 210
hominidtooluse 31
 
 . 
4 Thecognitivecomplexityofsocialorganization PARTIII FOSSILGREATAPEADAPTATIONS
andsocializationinwildbaboonsand
Introduction 235
chimpanzees:guidedparticipation,socializing
 . 
interactions,andeventrepresentation 45
   13 Paleoenvironmentsandtheevolutionof
adaptabilityingreatapes 237
5 Gesturalcommunicationinthegreatapes 61
 
 
14 Cranialevidenceoftheevolutionof
6 Greatapecognitivesystems 76
intelligenceinfossilapes 260
 . 
 .    
PARTII MODERNGREATAPEADAPTATION
15 Lifehistoryandcognitiveevolutioninthe
Introduction 101 apes 280
 .   
7 What’sinabrain?Thequestionofadistinctive 16 Fossilhominoiddiets,extractiveforaging,and
brainanatomyingreatapes 105 theoriginsofgreatapeintelligence 298
 .   
8 Lifehistoriesandtheevolutionoflargebrain 17 Paleontology,terrestriality,andtheintelligence
sizeingreatapes 122 ofgreatapes 320
   . 
v
vi Contents
18 Bodysizeandintelligenceinhominoid
evolution 335
 . ,  , 
 . 
PARTIV INTEGRATION
19 Evolutionaryoriginsofgreatapeintelligence:
anintegratedview 353
 .    . 
Authorindex 369
Speciesindex 373
Subjectindex 375
Contributors
 .   
DepartmentofAnthropology TheGeologicalInstituteofHungary
UniversityofToronto H-1143Budapest
Toronto,ONM5S3G3,Canada Stefa´niau´t14,Hungary
[email protected] kordos@mafi.hu
   . 
DepartmentofPsychology DepartmentofAnthropology
YorkUniversity LangaraCollege
4700KeeleSt Vancouver,BCV5Y2Z6,Canada
NorthYork,ONM3J1P3,Canada [email protected]
 .    
SchoolofPsychology DepartmentofAnthropology
UniversitySt.Andrews SonomaStateUniversity
St.Andrews,FifeKY169JU,Scotland,UK RohnertPark,CA94928,USA
[email protected] [email protected]
   
DepartmentofAnthropology Director,HumanOriginsProgram
107SwallowHall DepartmentofAnthropology
UniversityofMissouri NationalMuseumofNaturalHistory
Columbia,MO65211,USA SmithsonianInstitute
[email protected] Washington,DC20560-0112,USA
[email protected]
 . 
DepartmentofAnthropology  
NorthernIllinoisUniversity LivingLinks,YerkesPrimateCenter
DeKalb,IL60115-2854,USA EmoryUniversity
[email protected] 954NorthGatewoodRoad
Atlanta,GA30329,USA
 . 
Presentaddress:Haydnstraße25,44147Dortmund,
DepartmentofAnthropology,SB130
Germany
IndianaUniversity
Bloomington,IN47405,USA  
[email protected] SchoolofLife&SportSciences
UniversityofSurrey
 
London,UK
DepartmentofOralBiology,CollegeofDentistry
[email protected]
UniversityofIllinoisatChicago
801SouthPaulinaSt.  . 
Chicago,IL60612-7213,USA DepartmentofPsychology
[email protected] GlendonCollege,YorkUniversity
vii
viii Listofcontributors
2275BayviewAve. UniversityofMissouri
Toronto,ONM4N3M6,Canada Columbia,MO65211,USA
[email protected] [email protected]
   . 
DepartmentofAnatomy DepartmentofAnthropology
MidwesternUniversity YaleUniversity
55531stStreet P.O.Box208277
DownersGrove,IL60515,USA NewHaven,CT06520-8277,USA
[email protected]
 
 .   LaboratoryofHumanEvolutionStudies
BiologicalAnthropologyandAnatomy FacultyofScience,KyotoUniversity
DukeUniversity Sakyo-ku,Kyoto,606-8502,Japan
Box90383Durham,NC27708-0383,USA [email protected]
[email protected]
 
 .  GraduateSchoolofAsianandAfricanStudies
DepartmentofAnthropology KyotoUniversity
DepartmentofPathologyandAnatomicalSciences Sakyo-ku,Kyoto,606-8502,Japan
107SwallowHall [email protected]
Preface
Thisbookarosefromthreerealizations.First,thereis picturepossibletoday.Weaskedallourcontributorsto
an important need for good models of great ape cog- exploretheimplicationsoftheirrealmofexpertisefor
nitiveevolution.Studiesofcomparativeprimatecogni- cognitionandcognitiveevolution.Wearegratefultoall
tionoverthelasttwodecadesincreasinglyshowthatall ofthemfortheirwillingnesstoembarkonthisenterprise
greatapesshareagradeofcognitiondistinctfromthat andforstickingwiththesometimestryingprocessoffit-
ofothernonhumanprimates.Theircognitionappears tingthisbroadrangeofmaterialtogether.Theproductis
tobeintermediateincomplexitybetweenthatofother acompilationofourcontributors’viewsonadaptations
nonhuman primates and humans, so it offers the best relevant to cognition in the great ape lineage and our
available model of the cognitive platform from which attempttointegratetheirmaterialintoacoherentpic-
humancognitionevolved.Understandingtheposition ture.Oursenseisthatacoherentpicturedoesemerge.
ofthegreatapesisthenessentialtounderstandingcog- Thatcontributorsworkingfromverydifferentperspec-
nitiveevolutionwithintheprimateorderandultimately, tivesoftenvoicedsimilarconclusionsaddstooursense
inhumans.Second,existingreconstructionsoftheevo- thatthispicturehasconsiderablesubstance.
lutionaryoriginsofgreatapecognitionareallinneed We do not presume that our reconstruction will
of revision because of advances in research on great closethebookontheevolutionaryoriginsofgreatape
ape cognition itself, on modern great ape adaptation, cognition. Although we covered most if not all of the
andonfossilhominoids.Third,developinganaccurate major issues currently recognized as important in the
pictureoftheevolutionaryoriginsofgreatapeintelli- evolutionofgreatapementality,thebreadthofthema-
gencerequiresbringingtogetherexpertisefromahighly terial involved means that our coverage is inevitably
diverserangeoffieldsbeyondmoderngreatapecogni- brief. Further, our contributors pointed to additional
tion.Essentialarecurrentunderstandingsofthebrain, factorsinneedofconsiderationandthereremainvast
life histories, social and ecological challenges, and the areas of importance that have been little researched
interactions among them in both living and ancestral or that are still crying for evidence. This picture will
hominids. undoubtedly change as understanding improves. Our
Wethereforeassembledateamofcontributorswith hopeisthatthiscollectiveworkwillcontributetofilling
expertise spanning the topics currently recognized as theneedforgoodmodelsoftheevolutionaryoriginsof
relevanttocognitiveevolutioninthegreatapelineage, greatapeintelligenceandatthesametimespurefforts
withtheaimofpiecingtogetherthemostcomprehensive toimproveourpicturewhereitproveslacking.
ix