BarkGrowlBite | September 21, 2016
“In many ways the performances of Donald Trump remind me of male chimpanzees and their dominance rituals. In order to impress rivals, males seeking to rise in the dominance hierarchy perform spectacular displays: stamping, slapping the ground, dragging branches, throwing rocks. The more vigorous and imaginative the display, the faster the individual is likely to rise in the hierarchy, and the longer he is likely to maintain that position.”
That’s what anthropologist Jane Goodall, who is famous for having lived with chimpanzees in the African jungle, told James Fallows according to a story in the October 2016 issue of The Atlantic.
Fallows says Goodall compared Trump’s behavior to that of male chimpanzees shortly before he won the Republican nomination.
In The Atlantic article, Fallows said: “In her book My Life With the Chimpanzees, Goodall told the story of ‘Mike,’ a chimp who maintained his dominance by kicking a series of kerosene cans ahead of him as he moved down a road, creating confusion and noise that made his rivals flee and cower. She told me she would be thinking of Mike as she watched the upcoming debates.”
Now, If Jane Goodall had compared Barack Obama to chimpanzees, that would have been considered racist.
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