A Toe for a Toe

I just read a super interesting article in the Times on the development or evolution of morality in primates. Often using words like morality confuses things a fair amount, but the the subject of the article, Dr. Frans de Waal, makes a very convincing case that various apes and monkeys can empathize, enforce social rules, and can take actions for the good of the community, not just the individual.

What rights animals should have is, to be sure, a complicated issue, but in the case of chimpanzees it seems almost impossible to draw a distinction between us and them that would render their wellbeing worthless.

Of course, given the variation between human populations on issues of rules and punishment, its not surprising that other species have modes of enforcement we would never consider. I learned that "Young rhesus monkeys learn quickly how to behave, and occasionally get a finger or toe bitten off as punishment."