The current view that behaviour which is manifest in non-human primates forms a baseline for human behaviours is examined with special reference to the development of gender determination. A review of 21 non-human primate societies suggests that the behaviour of the sexes relates to assumption and occupation of societal roles defined by the local group. The significance of these findings for the human condition is discussed.
In 1954, the renowned anthropologist Hooton made a plea for the continuation and expansion of studies on the behaviour of non-human primates, because such studies had great relevance for 'man's cultural and social origins' (p. 187). Since the mid-1960's such studies have proliferated exponentially. Data extracted from field descriptions have been utilized to reconstruct hominid evolution and are used as a baseline for human behaviours. This application shares a methodology and a set of a priorz's with the burgeoning field of ethology. That term is now currently defined as the biology of behaviour ; its context -the comparative study of behaviour in a natural setting . The dynamic interrelationship which this view proclaims is attenuated in the statement that behaviour is an 'organ' which permits the more classical ethological a prioris to remain active. These presumptions, originating in the work of Heinroth, Craig and later popularized by Lorenz*, assume that behaviour is adaptive, that it is selected, and that it is genetically programmed. While accepting developmental maturation as a process, clearly rejects ontogeny as the explanation of the close fit between behaviour *A version of this paper was read at the Symposium on Sexual Identity and Sexual Preference at the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry, Toronto, October 24, 1975.