The Carnivorous Primate- Monkeys Who Think Like Wolves

One of the most significant archaeological finds of man's prehistoric past was one which contained no human fossils at all.

It was found in Spain and dated to a period before Homo Sapiens, back in the shady days of Homo Erectus and Homo Ergaster.

It was half an elephant. Not a modern elephant, but one of the elephants extinct cousins, of a kind whose descendants later become those curious furry mammoths.

It's remains lay with countless other elephant bones in what had, hundreds of thousands of years ago, been a swamp.
But half elephants never roamed the plains of ancient Europe.

What was significant was that the scores along the bones could be seen, where the flesh had been carved away. There could be no doubt how this kill had been achieved.

The herd had been stampeded in to the swamp and it's flesh carved from it.
This, getting on for a million years ago.

We forget how long we have been predators. And at this point, we were just reaching out for the crown.
That was yet to come.

Our journey to become what we have, has been a curious one. The odds of it happening seem so strange. And yet, it is the strangeness of it makes us what we are.

Sixty five million years ago, the mammals inherited the earth. The demise of the reptiles left so many niches free. And the mammals bagged every single one.

But the dominant position, the lords of the earth, the pinnacle of the food chain, that was taken by the carnivores.

Highly evolved killing machines. Look at your dog. Sure, he looks sweet and he is sweet, we bred him that way. But there's a lot that's important about the dog. His ancestor's were wolves.

Wolves are armed by nature. Armed with sharp claws and shearing teeth, designed to pull flesh from its bones. They think spatially, they move with speed, they plan and tactically think.
And they have special instincts. They don't just need to eat, they actually need to make a kill. Kill first, eat second. Your dog CAN'T leave the birds alone. You may have fed it, it needs a kill. It will chew that squeaky toy till it stops squeaking.

It has evolved like that over tens of millions of years.

Not Primates. Primates live in trees and eat berries. They are curious, exploratory and highly emotional. They care for eachother and protect eachother in a way that is unique, even for mammals.

And between two and four million years ago, one group of apes adopted a lifestyle that you'd think was doomed to fail.
They took on the carnivore's niche.

You'd think this couldn't work. but it did. Because those inquisitive, thinking primate brains learned to think like the carnivores. They may have lacked teeth and claws, but they learned to make tools to do the job.

And in time, they outcarnivored the carnivore.

They learned to think like wolves. And this is what we don't quite realise. The most significant symbiotic relationship in evolutionary history is all about two species that had learned to think the same.

Why is it we love dogs so much, despite their lack of anthropomorphic similarities? Because we learned to think like wolves. We love them with the love of primates, but we empathise with them as wolves.

Because some experts think the reason why it was Homo Sapiens who carried the day and extincted Neanderthal man and all other human species was very simple. Homo Sapiens hunted with dogs. With Homo Sapiens, wolf had thought 'If you can't beat them, join them'.

Because Homo Sapiens was lethal. It is a feature of the arrival of Homo Sapiens in any land mass that within a thousand years, most large mammals are extinct. only in Africa has this general rule been broken. But between 30,000 BC and 10,000 BC Man extincted the Mammoth, the Mastadon, the Cave Bear, the Sabre Tooth Tiger, the Giant Kangaroo, the Short-faced Kangaroo, the Ground Sloth and the Glyptodon, to name but a few.

Some it ate, some were competition. Either way, it's a good job Man discovered agriculture and penning animals in, rather than just driving them off cliffs, because otherwise he'd have been so good, he'd have run out of food.

So let's be honest, if you want to talk about the instincts of the predator, well, it's us, surely?

Only it's not. Not entirely. And I think I've kind of realised why not. I kind of see what has happened.

What's happened really is that most people, if left to their own devices, remain primates, to a large degree. What has actually happened over the last few million years has been the development of a certain character type. Primates who think like wolves. And they remain a minority, still.

I remember seeing somewhere that even in a battle, eight of ten people without realising they do so, deliberately miss. They try to avoid killing unless they absolutely have to.
But two out of ten will always shoot to kill.



So it's a minority of human beings who are capable of being merciless killers. But of course, they were the ones who's ancestors led the hunt, their adrenalin pumping, planning where to drive the herd. The rest just made a lot of noise. The instincts of the species as a whole are those of Primates, but the leap forward has been made by those who passed on genes showing more and more carnivore characteristics.

This explains a lot. I have often felt that males who think the way I do, are a clear minority. My best friend is a similar type to me, and I realise I understand that type. I understand why.

All males are part wolf, part monkey. He, like me, is more wolf than monkey.

Ultimately, so much of how we see the world- and react to it- is conditioned by the fact that whilst most people instinctively think like primates, we belong to the minority who essentially think like carnivores.

A lot makes sense when you accept that. It's a hard point to get your head round, because of course, there is a minority of people of this personality type who really are a menace to society. I think it's true to say that by definition, all sociopaths and psychopaths MUST fall into this character type.
But the point is, they remain a minority, even of this character type. Do the maths. Nine out of ten 'wolf thinkers' are clearly NOT sociopaths or psychopaths.

What makes the difference?
Is your dog a psychopath?
No, your dog is a very loving, tactile animal. So is the wolf thinker.

The sociopath/psychopath is like the abused Rottweiler. That is what he is. He is the wolf thinker whose development has not happened properly and has not developed the capacity to emote, form bonds and develop a sense of environmental and social awareness that separates him from the other nine out of ten wolf thinkers.

Probably the fact the figure of maladjusted wolf thinkers is that high, is down to the fact that it is hard for us to develop normally in a society essentially set up to cater for the developmental needs of the majority primate thinkers.

And yet of course, most of us do, one way or another. I think we're often misunderstood, because we don't think the same. For example, at school we're often seen as lazy. Not trying. Clearly bright but just not making an effort. Disruptive.

I disagree. I know how I think, it's not quite the way academia expects. It only sees one type of intelligence. But wolves think differently to monkeys. Monkeys learn things in stages, wolves see the whole picture, then fill in the details.

But I do recognise a certain character type which is me, many people I know and understand and see are- my own. Pack animals, not tribe creatures.

Is it a coincidence we tend to all be intelligent, but more in a synaesthetic than academic way? Is it coincidence we are all highly addictive personalities? Of course not, we need the high, the thrill of the kill, the burst of adrenalin as spear slides into flesh. We miss it, we crave it.
I guess that's why we all work in sectors which replicate the dynamics of the savannah. Close a deal, make a kill, what's the difference?

I look at so many of the characteristics I have, my best friend has, and other people I know who fit the bill, and I realise that they are minority character traits, traits which fit carnivores, not primates.

And again, it goes back to dogs.

I realise, my approach to life is that of a dog. As is that of my best mate and those generally I relate to best. It's how a dog treats life. Reliance on body language and posturing. Use of eye contact and voice. Those really are the things I rely on life. I use them to a huge degree. I'm very big on using my eyes and my voice.

But it's beyond that. Dogs actually are more social animals than primates. And it's interesting that, like most dogs I can't deal with long periods of time outside human contact. After all, I can only cope with living on my own by keeping this blog and continually having music playing and Yahoo Messenger running as well. And it's still rare I can go an evening without heading off for a pint.

I think most wolf thinkers are dog lovers. I often think of dogs as kind of furry people and I've yet to meet one I haven't emoted with. If I come round your house and you have a dog, trust me, your dog will instinctively come and sit on my lap. All dogs do. Dogs can tell a dog person and I clearly give off a dog vibe.
Likewise, I rarely have problems with dogs showing aggression towards me.

And I really think that is, because I think more like a dog than most people do.

I think what kind of rammed all this finally home- if I didn't already know it deep down- was something that happened at work yesterday. I don't believe in mindless violence, I think that's clear. I don't get into fights, I've not been in one for years.
But I can be very confrontational and to be honest I do do a lot of 'facing people down'.

Bearing in mind I'm a 5ft7, 10 stone waif like figure you might wonder how I get away with it.
I guess because most people have good instincts. Most people recognise the character type even though they don't know it. They can figure it out.

Because it's that difference between monkey anger and carnivore anger. Most people get angry like monkeys do, its all bluster and noise making.
What they call red-faced anger.

Mine is white-faced. That's how a dog gets angry. Carnivore angry.

Because carnivores attack when the adrenalin is pumping.

If you push a dog too far, it will take your hand off.

What happened at work yesterday, was that it was a long day. And I'm trying with less success than I'd hope to quit smoking.
We have a new guy at work who has a slight attitude problem. In fact, the subject came up at the pub a week or so ago. It was mentioned in jest it would only be a matter of time before he got smacked by someone.

Anyway.
He picked the wrong day to make a jibe under his breath which I probably wasn't meant to hear but did. I could feel the eruption inside, but let it simmer. To the outside world, I probably still looked unreadable.

Anyway, half an hour later I was talking to Dizzy when I heard him say something again, more sarcy comments...

What happened next is interesting. Interesting, because I'm not a person who indulges in violence. Not a person who has developed a habit of using violence as a response. What happened was an instinctive primal response, and the fact that it WAS my response is quite sobering.
Because it was done totally without any thought entering the process. I didn't myself actually realise how I'd responded until my boss, who sympathised and admitted he'd been tempted to give him a good hiding himself, told me in the car park, where we went through it, exactly how dramatic the response had been.

I had marched over to his desk, clasped one hand around his face so that my thumb and index finger were squeezing his cheeks and physically lifted him out of his seat by his face and pinned him against the wall. I had then stared him in the eye and snarled 'One more piece of lip out of you and I'll fucking batter you. Are we clear?'

I hadn't shouted. I had said it in my normal tone. Just with an edge. Move an inch and I'll hit you.

This happened so fast, I didn't have time to think.
But that's how I react when people push me over the line.

The reaction of a wolf, not the reaction of a monkey.

Would I actually have hit him? No, I don't think so. Not in the circumstances.
I didn't need to. Judging by what my boss said, I had him pretty much immobilised. He couldn't have hit me. And he was making what a behaviour expert calls 'submission gestures'.

But had it been the wild? Had I not had a rational brain in my head conditioning me to understand the consequences of my actions, a rational brain that ultimately would know when this little display had achieved its purpose?
Or if he had attempted to lash back at me?

Being really brutal, physically speaking, though obviously not speaking about what I myself would ever do in reality, but physically speaking, I was in a position to actually kill him. Had he moved a limb, my other hand was pretty much free to puncture his throat.

That of course, is as far as it ever gets with me. But you do realise that though you're a long way from the psychopath, you're formed from the same type that he's formed from. You're both dogs. Just he's a mistreated Rottweiler and you're by and large a Beagle.

Unlike the Primate, when you bite, you bite to disable your opponent.

And it's instinctive. Because there I was, yesterday afternoon, a 5ft7, 10 stone waif.

Pinning another man against a wall by his face.

Without thinking about it. Those instincts were primal. It was a carnivore marking his territory, asserting his dominance.

I'm not proud of it. Some would say it's inexcusable behaviour. It's perhaps not socially acceptable. In my defence I'd like to point out, it's not a common occurrence. If it was, then I doubt people would tolerate it. The fact that it is so rare and only happens under extreme provocation does suggest that most people who witness these things tend to see it as if not acceptable, at least being understandable and forgivable, in the circumstances.

My boss, the famous Gecko, was sympathetic and made it clear I had his backing on the subject. He made he clear he didn't approve of the display, but also made clear that the the reaction was understandable. He knows me well enough to be able to put such displays in context and know that if I ever do react that way, there's a sound reason behind it.

Because he knows I'm not actually a psycho. Many has been the time when we've been out drinking I've had to calm him down and move him away from confrontation.

But as he says '------ger, you have to remember, I know I can have a bit of banter with you and I know the limits, because I know you. And you know what it's like here. Everyone pushes the limits in banter- and you're the same. I understand he's got a bit of an attitude and he pushes it. I almost banged him out the other morning. But we can't be doing it. Not in the office. Actually pinning him up against the wall was overstepping the mark. Let's just pretend it never happened. And apologise to him. Cover your back. If you've apologised, than you're covered and I'm covered.'



I guess I can see how early man faced the sabre tooth tiger and won. It really is in us.
And it has both negative and positive points.
And I guess I know that that side does lie within me. But I also know something else.

So much of what I am, so many of my positive characteristics, indeed every one I live by, every one that I take pride in, every single characteristic I have that people list as my good points, they come with that. Creative thinking, charisma, strong bonding, good communication, strong strategic thinking, a certain type of spatial intelligence and a strong eye for patterns, loyalty, all these, they are the virtues of the dog.

I'm a monkey who thinks like a wolf.
A monkey who emotes like a wolf.

I think the challenge mankind needs to come to terms with is how we all deal with that.

Because it really is an amazing blend that has changed the dynamics of life itself.

But the sort of thing I did in the office yesterday is the sort of thing that can lead to some pretty MAD things.

Literally.

MAD, as in Mutually Assured Destruction.

So we got to figure this stuff out really.
And figure out a world in which we're all a lot nicer to eachother.

Before there's no one around to be nice to.