The Human Zoo

Desmond Morris in his Human Zoo puts forward some interesting theories. A zoologist by profession he was attached with the London Zoo for long. His experiences there helped him to map our urban life with the captive environs that animals find themselves in the zoo.

Animals usually do not display streaks of violence, stress, or even erratic behaviour unless they are confined. The essentially tribal human race display anti-social or abnormal behaviour trapped in today's cities. But as he himself says "There is really no need to escape (our cities)... but there is a need to transform the urban environment into some more appropriate for its long-suffering inhabitants."

And there are two of his theories which really found echo in my thought. A defining moment in the human development cycle was the ability to do farming. Previous to that the entire tribe was engaged in the act of gathering food. The physically strong men would go hunting while women would gather fruits and berries. In these times everyone who had to eat had to take part in this food gathering process. But among them the forward thinking brain decided to start farming. Soon came domestication of animals.

Thus was created a constant and surplus food supply. Suddenly people were freed up and could focus on activities that took humans forward and made us what we are today and what we promise to be tommorrow. But I guess it started another problem which was further fueled by the population burst. People now had to find work for themselves. And today we have new fields coming up everyday so that people may get into them and earn a living.

Another interesting thing was Morris's classification of the various types of sexual activites (he classifies 9 types). The most interesting is his description of Commercial Sex. At a macro level he equates the professions of a prostitute to that of the models and the actresses. All of them serve the basic carnal domain (cerebral one would immediatly be able to find the relation).

Even the traditional concept of marriage actually is a spin-off between a commerical and procreational need. Marriage in early time was more like prostitution - a completely commercial arrangement delicately balanced on the pivot of sexual consummation. In a male dominated society the man was the bread earner. So the women had to be paired with each of the bread earners for her very social existence. In return for the commercial security the woman allowed him to bed. At the same there was some formal rule around the procreational activity.

Altogether a very interesting read for people who think besides their work.