From the temptation of Eve to the venomous murder of the mighty
Thor, the serpent appears throughout time and cultures as a figure
of mischief and misery. The worldwide prominence of snakes in
religion, myth, and folklore underscores our deep connection to the
serpent but why, when so few of us have firsthand experience? The
surprising answer, this book suggests, lies in the singular impact
of snakes on primate evolution. Predation pressure from snakes,
Lynne Isbell tells us, is ultimately responsible for the superior
vision and large brains of primates and for a critical aspect of
human evolution.
Drawing on extensive research, Isbell further speculates how
snakes could have influenced the development of a distinctively
human behavior: our ability to point for the purpose of directing
attention. A social activity (no one points when alone) dependent
on fast and accurate localization, pointing would have reduced
deadly snake bites among our hominin ancestors. It might have also
figured in later human behavior: snakes, this book eloquently
argues, may well have given bipedal hominins, already equipped with
a non-human primate communication system, the evolutionary nudge to
point to communicate for social good, a critical step toward the
evolution of language, and all that followed.
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