Apes, Art and Dogs

I watched Ape Genius on PBS the other night. Fascinating how much like apes we are, or maybe it is vice versa. Much of the data on the program was research I was familiar with, probably from the Discovery Channel, (hooray for intelligent television) but there was one point that struck me newly.

Human children begin at a very early age to point. We use a finger to indicate a direction to another with the expectation that the other will look in that direction. And the expectation is fulfilled. To point is to communicate, clearly, “look at that!”

Apes pay no attention to pointing. You can point till the cows come home and the ape will not look in that direction, unless by accident. They’ll look at your finger, maybe.

I am intrigued with this. I point, you look. But you don’t look at my finger, you look where I am pointing. Isn’t that what art is? I draw on the cave wall, you look, but you don’t see charcoal marks on the wall, you see animals, the hunt.
I get all lofty with this, and then recall that the other animal that looks where I point is a dog. I’m not thinking that dogs are artistic. I’m thinking that the ability to articulate “look at that!” without words was a survival skill that canines and humans naturally selected for; it made hunting in groups effective.

So, there you go, just wanted to point that out.



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