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Hipsters just aping other primates
Academic says beards and tattoos are how males stand out amidst the masses.
The popularity of Ned Kelly beards, and tattoos, within the hipster community may simply be down to the evolution of primates towards ornamental and even aggressive displays of flamboyance, a University of Western Australia researcher reports.
A paper by Dr Cyril Grueter, recently published in the journal Evolution and Human Behaviour, examined the hypothesis that male primates living in larger societal groups develop ways of standing out.
Grueter and his team at UWA’ s School of Anatomy, Physiology and Human Biology analysed more than 150 species of primates across 45 genera to identify the reasons
behind the evolution of such standout features, known as badges.
Comparing beards groomed by young men to the coloured faces of mandrills, the elongated noses of proboscis monkeys and cheek flanges of orang-utans, Grueter said such badges amongst primates could result in increased sexual attractiveness to females and could be a symptom of competition for attention amongst males.“ In the case of humans, this may also include phenotypic extensions such as body decoration, jewellery and prestige items,” he said.
“ In large groups where individuals are surrounded by strangers, we need a quick reliable tool to evaluate someone’ s strength and quality, and that’ s where these elaborate ornaments come in,” Grueter explained.“ For example, I teach a group of 900 students, so there is no way of getting to know them on an individual basis – this is where these ornaments come in handy. Males have these flamboyant ornaments and they use them to signal their quality and status to other members in the group.”
Conversely, he added, for those animals living in smaller groups where members are more familiar with one another due to repeated interactions, there is less need“ to signal quality and competitiveness via ornaments”. n
2015 ATEM / Campus Review Awards launch
Nominations are now open for honours that recognise the leading professionals in the education sector.
The leading lights of tertiary education management will once again have their chance to shine, with the launch of the 2015 ATEM / Campus Review Best Practice awards.
These prestigious awards, in their fourth year, are organised by the Association for Tertiary Education Management( ATEM) in partnership with Campus Review. They celebrate excellence in areas such as management, leadership and innovation. ATEM executive director Paul Abela said the awards had become a key in the association’ s 39 years of work towards“ a culture where professional managers work to partner academics in the education enterprise”.
“ The awards are there to recognise all the work professionals do in the sector, be they in student administration, student services, marketing, school, colleges and faculties, finance, IT or the myriad other work [ roles that more than 70,000 professionals [ perform ] in the university, TAFE, and private provider sectors,” Abela said.
“ Professional tertiary education managers have a unique [ role ] because tertiary education is more than an industry,” he continued.“ It’ s the foundation of our future.”
The winners will be announced at a ceremony as part of the Tertiary Education Management Conference – featuring special guest former prime minister Julia Gillard – at the University of Wollongong on August 31.
The categories for 2015
• The Co-Op Award for Excellence in Students Administration and Customer Service
• The Boardpad Award for Excellence in Innovation in Tertiary Education Management
• The LH Martin Institute Award for Excellence in Leadership
• The ResearchMaster Award for Excellence in Research Management
• The Tribal Award for Excellence in Community Engagement
• The Campus Living Villages Award for Excellence by a New Entrant to Tertiary Education
• The Higher Ed Services Award for Excellence in Governance and Policy
• The AHEIA award for Excellence in Organisational Development
• Excellence in School and Faculty Management
• Excellence in Marketing, Communication and Public Relations n
Nominations for the awards are now open and can be submitted at atem. org. au / about-us / best-practice-awards
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