MONKEYS IN THE GARDEN Irven DeVore and the Revolution in the Science of Social Behavior
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Irven Devore, Harvard professor, was the first person to study wild primates in their natural environment. He also helped revolutionize our understanding of how evolution works on social groups and spread that knowledge among scientists.
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MONKEYS IN THE GARDEN Irven DeVore and the Revolution in the Science of Social Behavior - Sharon Pochron
MONKEYS IN THE GARDEN
Irven DeVore and the Revolution in the Science of Social Behavior
Sharon Pochron, Copyright 2016
Smashwords Edition
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Dedication
To Irv, who trusted me to tell his story. To Andy Boyles, who knew the importance of Irv's contributions. And to all young scientists and historians who read this, I hope Irv's humility, open-mindedness and curiosity inspires you as it did me.
Irven DeVore in 1950, nearly 16 years of age and about three years after he climbed a giant pecan tree near the Sabine River to steal two owl chicks from their nest. He left one owl chick for its parents.
CONTENTS
Dedication
1 A Dangerous Climb
2 Growing Up in Nature
3 A Dangerous Descent
4 The Nature of Human Nature
5 The Most Persistent Man in the World
6 The Intelligence of Monkeys
7 Face to Face with Baboons
8 A Rude Introduction
9 Mammals of Africa
10 Alone in the Wild
11 The First In-Depth Field Studies
12 The Need for a Theory
13 The Man Who Was Pushed Aside
14 Kindling a Revolution
15 The Sum of a Life’s Work
16 The Nature of All Living Things
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Bibliography
1
A Dangerous Climb
I had no idea at the time, but I’ve since read that it’s one of the most dangerous things you can do. You know, a great horned owl is big. Big talons. And if the mother caught me fiddling with her nest . . . They dive on you and rip your skull off. A lot of people just don’t survive an attack by a great horned owl, particularly at forty feet up.
—Irven DeVore
Thirteen-year-old Irven DeVore scanned the top of the ancient pecan tree, his eyes locked on the messy nest of sticks and leaves. It must be forty feet up, he thought, a hard forty feet up.
But he had to get there.
Squinting against the hot Texas sun, he considered. Should he use a rope? The huge trunk grew at least ten feet before sprouting any footholds. If he swung a line over the lowest branch, he could climb the itchy jute rope to the first big V.
A good idea—if only he hadn’t left the rope at home. He didn’t want to waste even a minute walking there and back again. The nest was calling his name.
What would his scoutmaster do? Irv was a top Boy Scout, and he knew woodcraft. There must be another way to the top.
He walked toward the trunk, glad for the shade of the tree. The trickling sound of the Sabine River might be cooling, but the sun was hot.
Great horned owls are savagely protective parents. They sometimes use their razor-sharp talons to slice at a person who approaches their chicks. Both the mother and father feed and protect their offspring.
Irv knew another boy might despise the impossible-to-climb tree, but he could do nothing but respect it. He touched its gnarled bark. The peaks and valleys of the brown wood spoke to the tree’s age as much as its massive size did.
An ant could lose itself in these crevices; a chipmunk could hide in one. What had this tree seen in its long lifetime? What ancient people had enjoyed this very shade? Irv’s fingertips danced over the tree’s deep crevices—and those gave him an idea.
Reaching into the grooves above his head, he leaned back, letting crabbed fingers take his weight. Would the old bark hold him? Maybe. He paused. Then he put more weight into his fingers. Small bits crumbled from the trunk and bounced off his hat—but the bark closest to the tree’s heart held.
In that instant, Irv knew exactly what he’d do. Digging his bare toes into crevices near the ground, he