The Ancestor's Tale PDF
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THE ANCESTOR'S TALE By the same author: The Selfish Gene The Extended Phenotype The Blind Watchmaker River Out of Eden Climbing Mount Improbable Unweaving the Rainbow A Devil's Chaplain T A ' T HE NCESTOR S ALE A P ILGRIMAGE TO D L THE AWN OF IFE RICHARD DAWKINS with additional research by YAN WONG WEIDENFELD & NICOLSON John Maynard Smith (1920-2004) He saw a draft and graciously accepted the dedication, which now, sadly, must become In Memoriam 'Never mind the lectures or the "workshops"; be Mowed to the motor coach excursions to local beauty spots; forget your fancy visual aids and radio microphones; the only thing that really matters at a conference is that John Maynard Smith must be in residence and there must be a spacious, convivial bar. If he can't manage the dates you have in mind, you must just reschedule the conference.. .He will charm and amuse the young research workers, listen to their stories, inspire them, rekindle enthusiasms that might be flagging, and send them back to their laboratories or their muddy fields, enlivened and invigorated, eager to try out the new ideas he has generously shared with them.' It isn't only conferences that will never be the same again. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I was persuaded to write this book by Anthony Cheetham, founder of Orion Books. The fact that he had moved on before the book was published reflects my unconscionable delay in finishing it. Michael Dover tolerated that delay with humour and fortitude, and always encouraged me by his swift and intelligent understanding of what I was trying to do. The best of his many good decisions was to engage Latha Menon as a freelance editor. As with A Devil's Chaplain, Latha's support has been beyond all estimation. Her grasp of the big picture simultaneously with the details, her encyclopaedic knowledge, her love of science and her selfless devotion to promoting it have benefited me, and this book, in more ways than I can count. Others at the publishers helped greatly, but Jennie Condell and the designer, Ken Wilson, went beyond the call of duty. My research assistant Yan Wong has been intimately involved at every stage of the planning, researching and writing of the book. His resourcefulness and detailed familiarity with modern biology have been matched only by his green fingers with computers. If, here, I have gratefully assumed the role of apprentice, it could be said that he was my apprentice before I was his, for I was his tutor at New College. He then did his doctorate under the supervision of Alan Grafen, once my own graduate student, so I suppose Yan could be called my grandstudent as well as my student. Apprentice or master, Yan's contribution has been so great that, for certain tales, I have insisted on adding his name as joint author. When Yan left to cycle across Patagonia, the book in its final stages benefited greatly from Sam Turvey's extraordinary knowledge of zoology and his conscientious care in deploying it. Advice and help of various kinds were willingly given by Michael Yudkin, Mark Griffith, Steve Simpson, Angela Douglas, George McGavin, Jack Pettigrew, George Barlow, Colin Blakemore, John Mollon, Henry Bennet-Clark, Robin Elisabeth Cornwell, Lindell Bromham, Mark Sutton, Bethia Thomas, Eliza Howlett, Tom Kemp, Malgosia Nowak-Kemp, Richard Fortey, Derek Siveter, Alex Freeman, Nicky Warren, A. V. Grimstone, Alan Cooper, and especially Christine DeBlase-Ballstadt. Others are acknowledged in the Notes at the end. I am deeply grateful to Mark Ridley and Peter Holland, who were engaged by the publishers as critical readers and gave me exactly the right kind of advice. The routine authorial claim of responsibility for the remaining shortcomings is more than usually necessary in my case. As always, I gratefully acknowledge the imaginative generosity of Charles Simonyi. And my wife, Lalla Ward, has once again been my help and strength. RICHARD DAWKINS CONTENTS THE CONCEIT OF HINDSIGHT S THE GENERAL PROLOGUE 16 THE PILGRIMAGE BEGINS 27 The Farmer's Tale 28 The Cro-Magnon's Tale 34 ALL HUMANKIND 36 The Tasmanian's Tale 39 Eve's Tale 44 ARCHAIC HOMO SAPIENS 56 The Neanderthal's Tale 58 ERGASTS 59 The Ergast's Tale 63 HABILINES 68 The Handyman's Tale 69 APE-MEN 77 Little Foot's Tale 80 Epilogue to Little Foot's Tale 84 CHIMPANZEES 88 The Bonobo's Tale 92 GORILLAS 94 The Gorilla's Tale 95 ORANG UTANS 98 The Orang Utan's Tale 99 GIBBONS 104 The Gibbon's Tale 107 OLD WORLD MONKEYS 118 NEW WORLD MONKEYS 122 The Howler Monkey's Tale 125 TARSIERS 134 LEMURS, BUSHBABIES AND THEIR KIN 1 The Aye-Aye's Tale 140 THE GREAT CRETACEOUS CATASTROPHE COLUGOS AND TREE SHREWS 148 The Colugo's Tale 150 RODENTS AND RABBITKIND 152 The Mouse's Tale 155 The Beaver's Tale 157 LAURASIATHERES 162 The Hippo's Tale 165 Epilogue to the Hippo's Tale 170 The Seal's Tale 171
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