In-Conversation: Interview with a Monkey.
In-Conversation: Interview with a Primate.
Was at the Zoo with the wifey and kids. While they were busy over at the Giraffe’s enclosure, I found myself attracted to the Primates. Soon enough I was actually having a conversation with one of the monkeys.
Me: Hi Monkey. How are you?
Monkey: Eeeeeeh aaaaaaah (fine, thank you)
Me: Do you know what separates us human from you monkeys?
Monkey: Oooooh Aaaaah eee-eeeh (we are better looking?)
Me: Umm…other than that?
[I am cutting out the monkey talk for ease of readability]
Monkey: We have been around much longer than you guys?
Me: No, what separates me from you is the 3% difference in the genetic make-ups that is missing in your species.
Monkey: Are you serious?
Me: Yes, I am.
Monkey: You mean, we share almost 99% of the genetic codes between us?
Me: Yes. It’s a wonder isn’t it that a mere 3% makes you a knuckle-dragging ape while we human walks erect, straight and even cast our eyes on the stars for inter planetary travels?
Monkey: It’s a wonder too that the extra 3% makes you human want to obliterate each other with nuclear bombs and wars and “ethnic cleansing”. Imagine that, “ethnic cleansing” when actually in genetics there are NO RACIAL or ETHNIC DIFFERENCES?
Me: Oh? You meant to say that RACE is just a social construct? Not biological?
Monkey: Yes, Social rules determine what races are and what they mean.
Me: I don’t quite get it.
Monkey: Where is YOUR 3% extra? Never mind. Genetically speaking, nothing differentiates one race from another. All humans share the same set of genes. There is no African gene, no Caucasian gene, and no Asian gene.
Monkey paused and picked something moving on his hairy head and put it in his mouth.
Monkey: As I was saying….what was I saying?
Me: no African gene, no Caucasian gene, no Asian gene….
Monkey: Oh Yes, so among humans, genetic variations obviously exist between individuals. Some genes are expressed, or "turned on," in some people and not in others. Some genes tend to develop mutations, which may alter body functioning or physical appearance, and these mutations get passed on to offspring.
Monkey paused to look at a group of female chimpanzee passing by, showing armpits and shaking their heads vigorously in, I supposed, excitement.
Me: Ahem…continue, please.
Monkey: Even the most obvious distinguishing factor -- skin color -- can vary enormously within a race. For example, the dark skin of a sub-Saharan African is not unlike the dark skin of a Caucasoid in India.
Me: Really?
Monkey: Yep. Read this book, "The Emperor's New Clothes: Biological Theories of Race at the Millennium." By Joseph L.Graves who, by the way, is an evolutionary biologist at Arizona State University West, Phoenix.
Me: You read book? Here…at the Zoo?
Monkey: Oh yes, we have a Library over at the Lemurs, left turn just before the Gorilla’s.
Me: Wow.
Monkey: Not really a wow. Things were easier back then when we had the Internet café, but them baboons screwed things up so bad its back to good ‘ol paper books now.
The Monkey got to go pick up some stuff for the Missus, so I thanked him and bade him farewell. Quite an intelligent chap for a monkey, I suppose. Having my intellect fully piqued and curiosity aroused, I made my way to the place where their Library is (or supposed to be). Turn right just before the Gorillas, after the Lemurs. Ah, there it is. A small wooded corner with a decent array of books, neatly arranged by size. A big silver-backed gorilla sat some distance away looking at me, peering intensely through the vertical iron bars that separated us. I am sure he could turn me into pulps in no time with his bare hands, which then set me wondering, how much different, genetically, must the DNA varies to turn a chimpanzee into a Gorilla. For the human version of intra species variation, it does not take much, just some booze or perhaps some kind of football matches.
Was at the Zoo with the wifey and kids. While they were busy over at the Giraffe’s enclosure, I found myself attracted to the Primates. Soon enough I was actually having a conversation with one of the monkeys.
Me: Hi Monkey. How are you?
Monkey: Eeeeeeh aaaaaaah (fine, thank you)
Me: Do you know what separates us human from you monkeys?
Monkey: Oooooh Aaaaah eee-eeeh (we are better looking?)
Me: Umm…other than that?
[I am cutting out the monkey talk for ease of readability]
Monkey: We have been around much longer than you guys?
Me: No, what separates me from you is the 3% difference in the genetic make-ups that is missing in your species.
Monkey: Are you serious?
Me: Yes, I am.
Monkey: You mean, we share almost 99% of the genetic codes between us?
Me: Yes. It’s a wonder isn’t it that a mere 3% makes you a knuckle-dragging ape while we human walks erect, straight and even cast our eyes on the stars for inter planetary travels?
Monkey: It’s a wonder too that the extra 3% makes you human want to obliterate each other with nuclear bombs and wars and “ethnic cleansing”. Imagine that, “ethnic cleansing” when actually in genetics there are NO RACIAL or ETHNIC DIFFERENCES?
Me: Oh? You meant to say that RACE is just a social construct? Not biological?
Monkey: Yes, Social rules determine what races are and what they mean.
Me: I don’t quite get it.
Monkey: Where is YOUR 3% extra? Never mind. Genetically speaking, nothing differentiates one race from another. All humans share the same set of genes. There is no African gene, no Caucasian gene, and no Asian gene.
Monkey paused and picked something moving on his hairy head and put it in his mouth.
Monkey: As I was saying….what was I saying?
Me: no African gene, no Caucasian gene, no Asian gene….
Monkey: Oh Yes, so among humans, genetic variations obviously exist between individuals. Some genes are expressed, or "turned on," in some people and not in others. Some genes tend to develop mutations, which may alter body functioning or physical appearance, and these mutations get passed on to offspring.
Monkey paused to look at a group of female chimpanzee passing by, showing armpits and shaking their heads vigorously in, I supposed, excitement.
Me: Ahem…continue, please.
Monkey: Even the most obvious distinguishing factor -- skin color -- can vary enormously within a race. For example, the dark skin of a sub-Saharan African is not unlike the dark skin of a Caucasoid in India.
Me: Really?
Monkey: Yep. Read this book, "The Emperor's New Clothes: Biological Theories of Race at the Millennium." By Joseph L.Graves who, by the way, is an evolutionary biologist at Arizona State University West, Phoenix.
Me: You read book? Here…at the Zoo?
Monkey: Oh yes, we have a Library over at the Lemurs, left turn just before the Gorilla’s.
Me: Wow.
Monkey: Not really a wow. Things were easier back then when we had the Internet café, but them baboons screwed things up so bad its back to good ‘ol paper books now.
The Monkey got to go pick up some stuff for the Missus, so I thanked him and bade him farewell. Quite an intelligent chap for a monkey, I suppose. Having my intellect fully piqued and curiosity aroused, I made my way to the place where their Library is (or supposed to be). Turn right just before the Gorillas, after the Lemurs. Ah, there it is. A small wooded corner with a decent array of books, neatly arranged by size. A big silver-backed gorilla sat some distance away looking at me, peering intensely through the vertical iron bars that separated us. I am sure he could turn me into pulps in no time with his bare hands, which then set me wondering, how much different, genetically, must the DNA varies to turn a chimpanzee into a Gorilla. For the human version of intra species variation, it does not take much, just some booze or perhaps some kind of football matches.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home