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Fighting For The Privilege of Procreation
But why all this savagery? A lot of it springs from a simple
biological commandment: be fruitful and multiply.
The gorilla Effie led her friends in the murder of a baby to gain
an advantage for her offspring. Livia, mistress of mighty Rome, did
the same to benefit her sons and their sons after them. Where violence
takes place, children crop up over and over again. Stags fight for the
right to have them. Humans declare wars to make the world safe for
them. Strange as it sounds, children--and the genes they carry--are one
key to the mystery of violence.
An adult male langur who's become the head of the
establishment ensconces himself at the center of his group looking
ever-so-regal. He has every reason for sitting pretty. If you take a
closer look at the cluster of langurs milling around him, you'll discover
that all of them are either his wives or his children. The females do his
bidding, and offer their bodies only to him. If they attempt a romance
with some dashing bachelor, they are severely punished. So is the
hopeful seducer. No wonder the central male looks so lordly. He is
surrounded by a tribe devoted to one primary purpose--having and
raising his kids.
As we saw several chapters ago, not every member of the langur
society is happy about this state of affairs. In the jungle nearby roams a
gang of post-pubertal hooligans who have left home permanently to
hang with toughs their own age. Their newly spurting sexual
hormones have triggered the growth of horniness, muscle and a cocky
aggression. Periodically, the gang of youthful thugs advances on the
territory where the well-fixed elder statesman sits in the midst of his
massive family. The hoodlums try to get his attention. They mock and
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16
16
16
Fighting For The Privilege of Procreation
But why all this savagery? A lot of it springs from a simple
biological commandment: be fruitful and multiply.
The gorilla Effie led her friends in the murder of a baby to gain
an advantage for her offspring. Livia, mistress of mighty Rome, did
the same to benefit her sons and their sons after them. Where violence
takes place, children crop up over and over again. Stags fight for the
right to have them. Humans declare wars to make the world safe for
them. Strange as it sounds, children--and the genes they carry--are one
key to the mystery of violence.
An adult male langur who's become the head of the
establishment ensconces himself at the center of his group looking
ever-so-regal. He has every reason for sitting pretty. If you take a
closer look at the cluster of langurs milling around him, you'll discover
that all of them are either his wives or his children. The females do his
bidding, and offer their bodies only to him. If they attempt a romance
with some dashing bachelor, they are severely punished. So is the
hopeful seducer. No wonder the central male looks so lordly. He is
surrounded by a tribe devoted to one primary purpose--having and
raising his kids.
As we saw several chapters ago, not every member of the langur
society is happy about this state of affairs. In the jungle nearby roams a
gang of post-pubertal hooligans who have left home permanently to
hang with toughs their own age. Their newly spurting sexual
hormones have triggered the growth of horniness, muscle and a cocky
aggression. Periodically, the gang of youthful thugs advances on the
territory where the well-fixed elder statesman sits in the midst of his
massive family. The hoodlums try to get his attention. They mock and
<< < GO > >>