Frans de Waal on primate morality

Frans de Waal is one of the world's leading primatologists. He's spent his career studying the behavior and social intelligence of primates, drawing parallels between the ways humans and primates disagree, cooperate and make moral choices.

In an interview with Scientific American:

If you're a passionate scientist it's important to communicate your science to people. I personally don't think that should be left to science writers. I respect a lot of science writers and many of them are very good. But I do feel that the scientists themselves also need to say what they think of their field and what research they find relevant.

I also have fun and do it more for amusement sometimes. During the elections, for example, I wrote a piece about Hilary Clinton and alpha female apes. I think a lot of human politics mirrors primate politics and I like to make those connections. But, at the same time, there's a serious undertone in communicating to people that what we do is not necessarily so special, it's not so special that you can't compare it to what other animals are doing.

Frans de Waal joins The Daily Circuit Monday to talk about how humans and primates construct their social lives.

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