My husband and I raised one girl and one boy, close together in age. We tried hard to avoid gender-stereotyping our young kids in any way. They had the same toys, many of them gender neutral, for some time.
Our son clung to the baseball fence, drooling
As it happened, our yard backed up to a school athletic field. From late winter on, we daily heard the THWOCK of bats hitting balls during baseball practice. Our son was barely able to walk when he began toddling out to the playing field alone, to watch the students play baseball. He’d hang on the baseball fence with his tiny fingers for hours, mesmerized and drooling. Soon he was into trucks – at the age of 2, he memorized the name of 33 different kinds of trucks from the truck library books he clamored for. Our daughter’s interests were varied, but she showed no inkling of his fascination with balls and trucks. We couldn’t understand it. He wasn’t in preschool, and my husband and I cared nothing for vehicles of any kind (although Ken is a baseball fan).
We share 98% of our DNA with chimps
So last week I was intrigued to see a paper in the online journal Current Biology about gender-stereotyped roles in young chimps. Since chimps are our closest relatives, sharing 98% of our DNA, any observations about chimp behavior could have implications for the origins of our own behavior.
In her recent article, Kahlenberg cited previous research in which captive young male monkeys preferred wheeled toys, while female monkeys, like human girls, showed greater variability in preferences. The male monkeys also showed more rough-and-tumble play than females. The authors of this study (published in PubMed) hypothesized that these differences are hormonally influenced.
Some have speculated that boys, including some male primates, prefer toys like balls and trucks because these toys are associated with more freedom of movement than, for example, playing with dolls.
Evolutionary advantage for human males to prefer movement?
Could it be true that very young male humans are drawn to balls and trucks because playing with them involves more movement? It’s not clear at all to me that male attraction to movement would be more advantageous evolutionarily than female attraction to movement. Even while carrying infants, our female prehistoric ancestors still were compelled to move around gathering plants for food, I would think. And keeping up with mobile children certainly involves movement. But if males were the defenders of early human tribes, and if they went on long hunts for food, then perhaps males could have evolved a hormone-based propensity to be more active.
I don’t know, it’s an interesting question. Culture has so much to do with it. A few decades ago, girls rarely if ever participated in team sports at school (at least in the U.S.). Today they do, when given the opportunity.
One more reason to protect wild apes
I’d love to see more field observations of gender-based behavioral differences in young primates. That’s one more reason we need to protect chimpanzees and other primates from the illegal poaching that threatens all populations of wild apes.
For more information about what you can do to protect wild apes, see these links to primate conservation NGOs:
Jane Goodall Institute
Orangutan Outreach
Sumatran Orangutan Society
Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International
Orangutan Land Trust
International Primate Protection League
TRAFFIC:the wildlife trade monitoring network
Some of my previous posts about primates and primate conservation:
Hunting may threaten orangutans even more than habitat loss Dec 6, 2010
Laws flaunted: flourishing pet trade threatens orangutans’ survival August 23, 2010
My search for a wild orangutan in Borneo and Sumatra August 16, 2010
Orangutans dwindle as Borneo, Sumatra converted to palm-oil plantations August 3, 2010
The U.S. imports 20,000 primates per year. February, 2010
Baboons are Africa’s most widespread primate. Females rule! December 30, 2009
Mama monkeys give in to tantrums….when others are watching. April 23, 2009
Angry chimp reveals a “uniquely human” ability. March 21, 2009
Chimps’ short-term memory is better than humans’ April 2, 2008
Chimps share human trait of altruism August 3, 2007
Keywords: chimpanzees chimp behavior animal behavior gender stereotypes chimps and dolls chimps and sticks Sonya Kahlenberg Kibale National Park Richard Wrangham