Going the whole orang: Darwin, Wallace and the natural history of orangutans

TY - JOUR

T1 - Going the whole orang

T2 - Darwin, Wallace and the natural history of orangutans

AU - van Wyhe, John

AU - Kjærgaard, Peter C.

PY - 2015

Y1 - 2015

N2 - This article surveys the European discovery and early ideas about orangutans followed by the contrasting experiences with these animals of the co-founders of evolution by natural selection, Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace. The first non-human great ape that both of them interacted with was the orangutan. They were both profoundly influenced by what they saw, but the contexts of their observations could hardly be more different. Darwin met orangutans in the Zoological Gardens in London while Wallace saw them in the wild in Borneo. In different ways these observations helped shape their views of human evolution and humanity's place in nature. Their findings played a major role in shaping some of the key questions that were pursued in human evolutionary studies during the rest of the nineteenth century.

AB - This article surveys the European discovery and early ideas about orangutans followed by the contrasting experiences with these animals of the co-founders of evolution by natural selection, Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace. The first non-human great ape that both of them interacted with was the orangutan. They were both profoundly influenced by what they saw, but the contexts of their observations could hardly be more different. Darwin met orangutans in the Zoological Gardens in London while Wallace saw them in the wild in Borneo. In different ways these observations helped shape their views of human evolution and humanity's place in nature. Their findings played a major role in shaping some of the key questions that were pursued in human evolutionary studies during the rest of the nineteenth century.

KW - Alfred russel wallace

KW - Anthropology

KW - Charles darwin

KW - Great apes

KW - Human evolution

KW - Orangutans

U2 - 10.1016/j.shpsc.2015.02.006

DO - 10.1016/j.shpsc.2015.02.006

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:84941599961

SN - 1369-8486

VL - 51

SP - 53

EP - 63

JO - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences

JF - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences

ER -