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The Natural History of the Rich

What do apes and the rich have in common? No, Prada has yet to produce a monkey-style vest. According to author Richard Conniff, though, they do display similar behaviours in building and protecting resources, mating and more. Read on below to learn about The Natural History of the Rich...

As Conniff explains:

"My assignments have taken me from champagne with Richard Branson at a private club in Kensington to a casual swim with piranhas in the Peruvian Amazon...It was a toss-up which of these worlds was more perilous and, traveling between the two, it was impossible to avoid seeing certain similarities. When I got to Botswana, for instance, a biologist I was visiting confided, 'The rules with baboons are the same as in a Jane Austen novel: Maintain close ties with your relatives and try to get in with high-ranking animals.'"

Such bizarre family resemblances between animals of the bush and the rich of town and country are examined in detail in Conniff's hilarious and insightful new book The Natural History of the Rich. From the complex dynamics of getting to the top to methods for ensuring they stay there, from their strutting and showing off to mating practices, Conniff's book shows that the behaviour of animals and the foibles of the well-off are closely related. It would seem that the ancient traditions of zoomorphism (looking at humans as if they were animals) and anthropomorphism (looking at animals as if they were humans) is not only alive and well, but has much to tell us about the world we live in.

Beginning his study of wealthy humans and their animal cousins in pre-history — when a few bandits were able to hoard enough chickpeas to rise above their hand-to-mouth hunter-gatherer counterparts — Conniff extends his reach to cover old money, nouveaux riches, big daddies, bigger daddies, trophy wives, the working rich of the dot-com boom and the idle rich of the aristocracy and Aspen.

Along the way, Conniff not only exposes the inbreeding, infidelity, ego and greed of the rich — and all the ways in which these practices are mirrored in the natural world — but he suggests that the very-well-to-do have actually contributed to the comfort of the common man. The Warbucks may have been pirates and exploiters, seizing advantage at the cost of human decency but they also produced or "served as patrons for almost every great advance in the rise of civilization." Whether in art or technology, what begins as convenience or puffery for the wealthy trickles down to the rest of us. Art galleries mounted in the name of status become public domains for reflection and inspiration. Tools to make the lives of the wealthy easier eventually find their way into regular folks' homes. In an ironic turn, it is by acting like animals that the rich seem to enhance our humanity.

Of course, though Conniff acknowledges their value, he does not let the Trumps, Rothschilds, Vanderbilts and Fords entirely off the satirical hook. As his "Alpha Ape's Ten Rules for Living Wisely in an Imperfect World" suggests, Conniff's observations about the monied classes take in both the good and the bad:

1. Get to know the three big lies of the subspecies:
   "I'm not really interested in money."
   "Power doesn't matter to me."
   "I don't give a damn about impressing other people."
2. Make friends shrewdly: Cultivate useful allies, send your kids to the right schools, live in the right neighbourhoods.
3. Pay attention to women: They have more power than may appear and live longer!
4. Give early. Give often. Give more than you can afford: Prove your goodwill with donations to the right groups and people. It may pay you back in the long run.
5. Put on your plus face: Confidence goes a long way towards success.
6. Strike decisively and with overwhelming force: When you've lined up your allies, move against your enemies or competitors with gusto.
7. Wield your new status gently: Protect your status by being good to subordinates.
8. Family should always come first: Trust your family to tell you "what a dufus you really are."
9. Build a modest house: Save the large house for show and keep a nest for your own comfort.
10. Plan your escape route: Always have a "Plan B" and a place to get away should the tides turn.