In the last twenty years, Frans de Waal has helped change the way we think of animals, particularly the way we understand apes and monkeys.

Previously, researchers focused entirely on aggression and competition in animals. The animal world was supposed to be a Darwinian jungle—a harsh and ruthless fight for survival in which only the strong ruled. Animals, like Wall Street brokers, weren't supposed to be nice.

De Waal, however, started observing something that no one else had heeded. He noticed that animals resolve conflicts. Chimpanzees, for instance, make up after fights; they restore their relationships. It was the most profound discovery of a career that has taken de Waal from The Netherlands to Atlanta.

Based on his findings, more researchers began studying animals in the field and captivity. They found that this sort of conflict resolution is generalized in the animal world. Lots of animals make nice—hyenas, dolphins, and all sorts of monkeys.

In fact, the same studies that are being done on primates also are being performed on children—the first studies ever done on reconciliation in humans.

In the course of authoring five popular books, de Waal has spread the fruits of his research to a broad, international audience. Each of his books has been translated into at least eight languages.

His most recent works have focused on the origins of morality and culture in the primate world—that is, on the sort of things that we consider uniquely human.

Such is also the mission of the Living Links Center, which de Waal directs. Based at Emory's Yerkes National Primate Research Center, researchers study the origins of humanity from a primate perspective. About five million years ago, humans shared a common ancestor with the apes, who researchers believe was more similar to the apes than to us. By studying apes through noninvasive techniques—behavioral experiments, observations of behavior, DNA analysis, and brain imaging—researchers can get a glimpse of that ancestor.

The subject of evolutionary perspectives is on many minds these days. A symposium on the origins of humanity held two years ago on the Emory campus drew 2,000 people, among them the leading biologists in the field.

If you ask de Waal what makes Emory unique among major research universities, you will receive a one-word answer: apes. Not only does Yerkes provide the facilities to conduct behavioral research, the center also features advanced veterinary care and a broad understanding of apes that has grown in the course of Yerkes' eighty-year history.

FYI

Established in 1930, Yerkes is the nation's oldest primate center.

The Living Links Center specializes in comparisons of the social life, ecology, cognition, neurology, and molecular genetics of apes and humans. Established in 1997, Living Links conducts all of its work with noninvasive techniques that could be applied to human volunteers.

Books by de Waal's:
Chimpanzee Politics (1982)
Peacemaking among Primates (1989)
Good Natured (1996)
Bonobo: The Forgotten Ape (1997)
The Ape and the Sushi Master: Cultural Reflections of a Primatologist (January 2001)
Our Inner Ape (Riverhead, 2005)