The Red Ape

by Schwartz, Jeffrey H.

• ISBN13: 9780813340647
• ISBN10: 0813340640
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-01-04
• Publisher: Westview Pr

Summary

We've all heard that chimpanzees are our closest relatives - that, in fact, they share 98% of their genes with us. But what evidence supports these often-repeated commonplaces? Very little, concludes physical anthropologist Jeffrey Schwartz. In his keenly insightful demolition of conventional wisdom on the family relationships between apes and humans, Schwartz provides a fresh examination of fossil evidence, modern anatomy and physiology, and DNA. He argues that it is not chimpanzees or other African apes that are humankind's closest cousins, but Asian orangutans. The result is a compelling challenge to what we think we know about the origins of humans, and about the pursuit of science.In this thoroughly revised edition ofThe Red Ape, Schwartz analyzes the myriad fossil discoveries made since the publication of the first edition. He reveals the embarrassing fact that orangutan and human teeth are so similar that they have commonly been misidentified for each other in the fossil record, even by experts. New material provocatively addresses whether molecules (DNA) are more reliable than fossils and anatomy in assessing evolutionary relationships. Numerous new plates and drawings illustrate the text.

Author Biography

Jeffrey H. Schwartz is professor of physical anthropology and of the history and philosophy of science at the University of Pittsburgh.

Table of Contents

The orangutan	p. 1
In pursuit of human ancestry	p. 25
The search for our closest relatives	p. 51
The riddle of relatedness	p. 79
Primates first, hominoids last	p. 99
The hominoids	p. 129
Humans and orangutans	p. 145
Blood's thicker than bones	p. 161
Of molecules and evolution	p. 183
In the wake of The red ape	p. 203
Chimps uber Alles?	p. 219
The return of the red ape	p. 239
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