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Dominance In Jane Goodall's The Shadow Of Man

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This highlights a very important detail of the dominance hierarchy; how flexible it is. Before his display with the Kerosene cans Mike was practically on the bottom of the hierarchy but with one strong display shot up to the top. This shows the quite fascinating ability for the species to recognize individuals and remember their actions allowing someone such as Mike to do one spectacular act of dominance and be remembered for it and not have to fight for it again. This is quite different from a species such as the Stag Beetle, were the same males may wrestle for territory over and over with the same victor simply because the loser doesn't remember the winner. Further squabbles for dominance are made unnecessary between individuals when one …show more content…

She explains that the shadow of man refers to the towering presence that man holds above the chimp and indeed all wild animals. Chimpanzees live in man’s shadow, only able to survive in places that man has not claimed for farming or timber purposes. What havens these creatures do have is continually shrinking as man shines his light of industry on the shadow. Goodall and many others fear for the continued survival of animals who call these untouched forests their home as they should given not only the indirect killing of these species by destroying their habitats but also by more direct means such as hunting for locals needs or even worse, for the desires of foreigners who financially support the hunting of these endangered species. As Goodall insinuated in the final two chapters, chimpanzees and the creatures in their habitat have much to teach us about the development of intelligence, the past of our species and its development, and modern day human psychology that is often difficult to observe. The chimpanzee lives at the mercy of man and their interests are constantly at odds. The deaths of the chimps are seen not as big of a tragedy as they are lesser than man, they are animals. What Dr.Goodall’s work shows is that the chimpanzee is not only similar to man genetically, they have personalities, feel heartbreak, form relationship and create tools just as a man

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