Monkey See, Monkey Connect, By Frans De Waals

In his scientific essay, “Monkey see, Monkey do, Monkey connect”. Frans de Waals asserts that interconnection and survival revolve around imitation. Frans de Waal provides examples of laughter, instinct and movement in order to demonstrate how important imitation is for survival and for the bonding of primates. At the beginning of his essay, de Waal discusses laughter and how we imitate others around us by unconsciously laughing when others laugh. de Waal states, “Below my office window at the Yerkes Primate Center, I often hear my chimps laugh during rough-and-tumble games, and I cannot suppress a chuckle myself.” The phrases “ suppress a chuckle myself;” and “chimps laugh” highlight that the author unconsciously chuckles when he hears his chimps laugh.
This evidence connects to my thesis because it shows how imitation can lead to the bonding of primates, since the author is having a good time. This suggests that while unconsciously imitating his chimps, the author is bonding with them. In the middle of his essay, de Waal transitions to showing how imitation can help the survival of primates. de Waal states, “It’s not hard to see its survival value. you take off at the same otherwise you may be lunch.” The phrases “ survival value” and “may be lunch” highlight how imitation helps with survival and is important since it highlights how it can work as an instinct for animals in danger. For example, running when others run or hiding when others hide. Furthermore, the phrase “may be lunch” conveys death by something hunting you for food. This connects to my thesis of how imitation helps you survive, since it can give the primates a chance to run away from something haunting you. At the end of the essay, de Waal transitions to how imitation of feeding can help with the bonding of