Monkey infants do something similar.

[GoodTaste]

I understand "Monkey infants do something similar" as to be "We humans are still close to monkeys." Am I on the right track? What do you think it would mean?

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Richard Dawkins tweeted:
“I’ve had parents tell me their boys, upon being given dolls, will sling them around mercilessly by the hair, as though they are a weapon. Girls will arrange toy trucks into a family and tuck them into bed.” The End of Gender, by Debra Soh.


Monkey infants do something similar.

 

[GoesStation]

I understand "Monkey infants do something similar" as to be "We humans are still close to monkeys." Am I on the right track? What do you think it would mean?

The behavior Dawkins describes could be evidence that humans are evolutionarily close to monkeys, but the statement doesn't say so. It merely states a fact: infant monkeys sling dolls around by their hair.

I've advised you many times not to read more into a text than it says. The habit will often lead you astray.

 

[Amigos4]

I do not see "Monkey infants do something similar" in Richard Dawkins' tweet. Where did you find that sentence?

I also don't see a relationship between boys playing with dolls and girls playing with toy trucks. Dawkins' tweet does not compare 'apples to apples'.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

I do not see "Monkey infants do something similar" in Richard Dawkins' tweet. Where did you find that sentence?

I also don't see a relationship between boys playing with dolls and girls playing with toy trucks. Dawkins' tweet does not compare 'apples to apples'.

The tweet compares boys to girls. The relationship is that, regardless of what the toy is, boys tend to pretend toys are weapons and girls tend to pretend toys are babies.

I see the Monkey line in the text GT provided. Are you saying you found the original tweet and that line isn't there?

 

[Tarheel]

I understand "Monkey infants do something similar" as to be "We humans are still close to monkeys." Am I on the right track? What do you think it means?

There's no mystery to it at all. It's also unremarkable that there are similar behaviors between members of the same family* (primates).


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*Technically, it's an order, not a family

 

[GoodTaste]

There's no mystery to it at all. It's also unremarkable that there are similar behaviors between members of the same family* (primates).

Dawkins indeed revealed a mystery and Charlie Bernstein explained it vividly. The biological base or its molecular mechanism that link human and monkey behaviors is not clear and is of great interest to researchers.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Dawkins indeed revealed a mystery and Charlie Bernstein explained it vividly. The biological base or its molecular mechanism that link human and monkey behaviors is not clear and is of great interest to researchers.

Tarheel wasn't calling the similar behavior of primates a mystery. He was referring to your question "What do you think it means?"

The sentence you're asking about is a simple one, so the sentence's meaning shouldn't be a mystery.

As for whether you're on the right track, you're reading more into the Dawkins quote than what it actually says. You're not necessarily wrong, but you are adding something that wasn't said.