Significant Others: The ape-human continuum and the quest for human nature by Craig Stanford, Perseus, £19.99, ISBN 0465081711
A COUPLE of years ago, a team composed of respected molecular biologists and primate taxonomists decided that the classification of the great apes needed revision. Not only should the Pongidae (them) and Hominidae (us) be combined, but they saw no reason to keep humans and chimps apart.
Like lions and tigers, we were very closely related and belonged in the same genus, they said. I’ll bet you didn’t see a single headline along the lines of: “Human ego downsized” and “Humans: not…
