The carnage in question had started seven years earlier when the Zoological Society of London opened a new baboon exhibit. The enclosure, called &ldqu

The Massacre at Monkey Hill - Priceonomics

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2024-12-23 15:30:04

The carnage in question had started seven years earlier when the Zoological Society of London opened a new baboon exhibit. The enclosure, called “Monkey Hill,” was state-of-the-art: an open-air rock cliff with simian-friendly amenities designed to keep the resident primates happy and healthy.

As soon as the first batch of hamadryas baboons were ushered onto the artificial rock face, war broke out. By the end of the decade, two-thirds had been killed.

The seven-year bloodbath was a hit with the viewing public, and the misdeeds of these murderous monkeys made a splash in papers on both sides of the Atlantic.

For Zuckerman, who dissected and studied animal carcasses at the zoo, the violence provided an important insight into primate behavior. Ape and monkey society is built on violence and sexual dominance, he theorized. Humanity’s closest relatives were creatures of chaos, lust, and slaughter. This insight launched Zuckerman’s career and defined the early scientific field of primatology.

For many, the theory also offered an appealing explanation for human behavior. In political science, psychiatry, and the popular press, the slaughter at Monkey Hill was taken as evidence of the inherent depravity of humanity.