Summary
Highlights
Humans have achieved remarkable feats like building the Great Wall, walking on the moon, and genome sequencing, while chimpanzees, who share almost all our DNA, have remained largely unchanged. Traditional theories attribute human success to language, tools, or brainpower.
A new theory proposes that the key to human success lies in how we raised our children. This involves a fundamental difference in parenting styles between pre-human apes and chimpanzee ancestors.
Chimpanzee ancestors exhibited a parenting style where the mother was the sole caregiver, often appearing overprotective. In contrast, pre-human ape families shared childcare responsibilities, with grandmas, dads, and even extended relatives like 'cousin Thog' participating in raising the young. This 'baby-sharing' is highly unusual for chimpanzees.
The new theory argues that this sharing, initially of babies and food, then extending to feelings and intentions, was the original secret to humanity's success. Without it, human civilization, which requires more than just male bonding, would not have developed.
Scientists suggest that a climate shift, which transformed forests into grassy savannas, played a crucial role. Scarce food resources, primarily hard-to-find and prepare plant tubers, necessitated collective help and sharing for pre-human mothers and babies to survive.
In this challenging new environment, new skills emerged, even in young children. Those better at understanding the thoughts and intentions of others—discerning who would help or hurt—were more likely to survive. Grandmothers and others were essential in feeding the children.
This shared parenting not only aided survival but also allowed mothers to have babies at a faster rate than other great apes. With everyone collaborating, food became abundant. This surplus of calories and time enabled human brains to grow larger, paving the way for advanced capabilities like language, tools, and travel.