Brian Hare: "Survival of the friendliest: Convergent evolution in dogs, bonobos and humans?"

Talk link: youtu.be/j1GcjOkalLg

Talk abstract: Comparisons between chimpanzees and human infants suggest that humans develop cooperative communicative abilities that evolved since we shared a common ancestor.  I will share experiments that point to convergent evolution between dogs, bonobos and humans as a result of selection for prosociality.  This includes more human-like cooperative communicative skills in dogs and bonobos than those observed in wolves and chimpanzees.  I will then propose that selection for prosociality differentiated Homo sapiens from other human species during the Upper Paleolithic and allowed us to remain the last human standing.