Do animals know that sex makes babies?
Think about it.
Nature Channel fans might be inclined to say yes. Who hasn鈥檛 seen those shows where young lions or male silverback gorillas enter a group, drive off or kill the leader, and then kill their young? Why do they do it? Well, to obliterate a competitor鈥檚 lineage, and then to impregnate the females and ensure the survival of their own. That鈥檚 what they鈥檙e thinking, right?
But are they? Thinking, that is.
Does an animal, other than a human animal, think about procreating? Associate Professor of Anthropology and Department Chair says no, animals do not have knowledge of the abstract that would cause them to act in a certain way. For instance, they wouldn鈥檛 know not to touch metal in a lightning storm for fear of electrocution. They wouldn鈥檛 know thirst is a result of dehydration. They don鈥檛 have the cognitive ability to reason about abstract concepts such as electrocution or dehydration. Just like they don鈥檛 have the capacity to understand that sex can lead to reproduction.
Dunsworth, who is one of the coordinators of The University of Rhode Island Honors Program’s Fall 2017 Honors Colloquium “,” explains it this way:
鈥淭o comprehend unobservable phenomena such as gravity or impregnation, a creature has to be capable of complex abstract reasoning to transfer knowledge from one situation to another, which allows us to solve problems we have never encountered before and to even invent new diversions for ourselves,鈥� Dunsworth writes in 鈥溾�� that appeared in the January 2017 issue of 鈥淪cientific American鈥� and then again in May for a spring 2017 special collector鈥檚 edition of the magazine called 鈥�.鈥�
鈥淎lthough animals such as chimpanzees are far cleverer than scientists have traditionally acknowledged, they do not appear to have this particular cognitive skill,鈥� Dunsworth concludes.
So while a lion鈥檚 or gorilla鈥檚 aggression may be observed as an aspect of sex drive, this aggression is not motivated by a conscious understanding of the process of reproduction.
‘How significant could it be?’
Dunsworth has been ruminating on the idea that reproductive consciousness is strictly a human phenomenon for about a decade. It caused her angst at times. 鈥淚 kept thinking, 鈥楾his is so obvious. How significant could it be?鈥�
She began reading everything she could about sex and evolution, families, and kinship, reading to find that someone had already made the argument. Surely other scientists had examined this idea that the animal mind did not understand the process of reproduction. But no one had. The closest thing was University of Louisiana at Lafayette primatologist Daniel Povinelli鈥檚 studies of what apes understood of gravity. The short answer: There鈥檚 no evidence to suggest they do.
What is obvious is also pretty significant, as it turns out, and the media is taking notice (often with tongue-in-cheek headlines that echo Dunsworth鈥檚 observation that she鈥檇 called attention to something obvious). In addition to the coverage by 鈥淪cientific American,鈥� digital magazine 鈥淎eon鈥� in its August issue ran a 6,800-word essay 鈥�,鈥� by Dunsworth and co-author Anne Buchanan, adjunct senior research associate in anthropology at Penn State, on reproductive consciousness and its influence on the development of human culture. And in August, Penn Jillette, one half of the famed magic duo, Penn and Teller, had Dunsworth and Buchanan on his podcast 鈥淧enn鈥檚 Sunday School.鈥� The episode title: 鈥�.鈥�
American philosopher, best-selling author, cognitive scientist and Tufts University Professor read the 鈥淎eon鈥� piece and promptly mailed Dunsworth a copy of his latest book on the evolution of minds. The scientist, whose two have a combined 4.3 million views, clearly recognized the importance of hers. And John Newbery Medal-winning author that Dunsworth and Buchanan鈥檚 piece was a 鈥渇ascinating article on human awareness of reproduction making civilization.鈥�
The idea of reproductive consciousness came to Dunsworth when lecturing. 鈥淚 was a young professor teaching my class the way I鈥檇 learned to teach human origins.鈥� She was telling the silverback gorilla tale that opened this story: young male arrives and kills off all unweaned babies sired by his predecessor.
‘Language gets in the way’
鈥淎nd I realized that language gets in the way if you鈥檙e trying to understand how we鈥檙e different than animals.鈥�
Dunsworth鈥檚 next step in developing her idea will likely be to write an article for peer review. And she plans to include her work on reproductive consciousness in a new book she is writing, which will cover human evolution more broadly.
The book “is our entire species’ shared biography. It tells the story of a human life, from birth (and before) to death (and beyond) through an evolutionary lens, making sure to blow up so many insidious assumptions and offensive misconceptions about how evolution works and about our evolutionary past that are perpetuated by pop culture,” Dunsworth said.
Dunsworth鈥檚 work on the idea of reproductive consciousness has had a profound effect on her teaching. Anthropomorphising sexual behavior in primates is tempting. To avoid it, Dunsworth has had to undo how we鈥檝e learned to talk about evolution. It鈥檚 a case where language convolutes rather than clarifies. Fortunately, being human means you have the ability to reframe the argument.
鈥淚鈥檓 reminded of the time an astute sixth grader answered my question about 鈥淲hy don鈥檛 chimps play baseball?鈥� not with their anatomical incompatibilities but with, 鈥淏ecause you can鈥檛 explain the rules to them,鈥� Dunsworth said.
No argument there.