"Monkeys in the Backyard"

"Monkeys in the Backyard" by Gillon Suarez, in Spanish, 1930, Reon Caballero Sándor Tabak Publicación, Ushuaia, Argentina, Hardcover, 302 pages, nine original unaccredited photographs. This is a fascinating book, about a troop of monkeys observed in the general vicinity of the author's house and specifically in his large and leafy backyard.  The monkey species is commonly known as Barbary Macaque (Macaca Sylvanus) and attracted the interest of the author/observer due to the peculiar role the males play. It seems that they are almost exclusively responsible for rearing the young, they raise all the tribe's infants. Noting that all males mate constantly with all females, Suarez, a dedicated Darwinian, draws the only logical conclusion: as the paternity is uncertain, the males care for all the young to ensure that their genetic material is safe (acting according to the principle of "preservation of the species"). Don't we all feed to "preserve of the individual" and fuck for the "preserve the species"? I was captivated, mesmerized and enthralled, so I decided to dig deeper. My research showed that Gillon Suarez was the heir to a rich jeweler family in Buenos Aires where he lived in a luxury highrise (no backyard) and that the Barbary Macaque is native to Northern Africa and not South America ... Gillon is a fraud but produces fascinating writings.

I read and reviewed this volume as part me cataloging and creating an inventory of book boxes during the "The Evart-Gunn Publishing Company Book Salvage Operation" (see first entry of this blog).