Prologue: Why Study Vertebrates." 



Fig. 2. Baboon. (Courtesy, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University.) 



going down "on all fours," make nice distinctions between the atti- 

 tudes and movements characteristic of the dog and those of the ape, 

 and even imitate their facial expressions and the various howls, growls, 

 and yips emitted by the fighting animals. Bushmen girls, prone on the 

 ground and dragging themselves forward by awkward movements of 

 arms and legs, imitate crawling tortoises. Mimicry of quadruped 

 animals and of birds is a common feature of ceremonial dances of 

 primitive races in all parts of the world. 



A child accepts the household dog or cat as a near equivalent of a 

 human companion and playmate, perhaps even trying to attire a kitten 

 in a doll's dress. The Indian is aware that the bird's wing somehow cor- 

 responds to a man's arm. The Bushman readily converts himself into a 

 quadruped. The child dressing the kitten assumes that the sleeves be- 

 long on the forelegs. Neither the Hopi nor the Bushman nor the child 

 has ever studied comparative anatomy in college. But they are, by na- 

 ture, comparative anatomists. Their recognition of anatomic similari- 

 ties between man and such quadrupeds as horses, dogs, and cats is in- 

 tuitive. Even frogs and fishes have some obvious equivalents of human 

 features. 



To begin with, these various creatures are all alive. Trees, also, are 

 alive but their peculiar habits of living set them far apart from man. It 



