Advanced Primatology Ch. 02

Kate looked up from her notes and realized that Jess and Karin were still talking.

"I should get a diaphragm too," Jess was saying, "That sounds so much better! I'm sick to death of condoms, and the boyfriend is too." She lowered her voice, "We've done it without one a couple times, and it felt so hot it scared me a little."

"Jess stop," Karin said and looked around her again.

For some reason it didn't feel awkward to discuss these intimate details with her colleagues. They were scientists after all, and all of them had a strong interest in the subject of female sexuality among primates, including the human ones.

The subject of sex and reproduction led naturally to the work ahead of them. They were all agreed on the main research objective of the trip, but they reviewed it anyway because they needed to communicate it to the undergrads if they were going to be effective assistants.

They were out to disprove what had become the leading theory explaining the role female chimps played in the process of mate selection within small groups, a theory that was understood to describe most primates, and that was now being applied to explain female sexual behavior in humans. In a nutshell, the theory held that male chimps competed among themselves to attract the best females, the ones with the best genes, the ones with the brains and brawn to ensure the survival of their young and give the males the best chance of passing their genes along to a dominant offspring.

They did this in many ways, but the most important one to emphasize with the students today was the display of penis size. Like with humans, male chimps had been sexually selected to have long penises, about 8cm compared to the 3cm of a gorilla or the 13cm of a human. Kate thought of her husband's 9-incher appreciatively. Research showed that the males who were able to mate the most often with choicest females at their peak fertility (advertised through the swelling of their sex organs) tended to be the ones with the longest penises, which they displayed to the females when they sensed they were in heat. As the females approached (chimps were promiscuous rather than monogamous) conflicts would break out and the males would challenge each other.

The leading theory, which Brian's work on the "violence gene" was a big part of, was that these physical contests between the males, and the strength and aggression displayed in them, determined everything about mate selection. He'd just published a book showing that the most successful males in terms of frequency and timing of sex with the highest-ranking females were also the ones that showed the most extreme tendencies toward violence, severely wounding their male challengers, sometimes murdering them outright, sometimes beating the females to keep the group in line.

Brian had even proposed that it wasn't much different with humans. Some of his new research traced women's preferences for different kinds of sexual partners at different points in their menstrual cycle, showing that on their fertile days, when they were ovulating, women were far more attracted to the aggressive, dominant types than at any other point in their cycle. It even showed that women in long-term relationships with "nice guys," the nurturing types who seemed likely to be good dad's, were actually even more attracted to the dominant types when they were fertile than girls who weren't in relationships at all, and that they reported feeling more likely to cheat with alphas as well on those days. Brian proposed that this was because human females, not unlike some other primates, were trying to have their cake and eat it too. They wanted the dominant genes of the alphas to pass along to their own offspring, but they wanted them on the sly. That way they could be sure that the "good dad" type would stick around to raise the baby, thinking it was his. He even suggested that women had evolved to conceal their ovulation from "nice guy" types, who lacked the heightened senses necessary to detect it, while also subtly advertising their fertility to any alphas in the area.

But Kate had been collecting some information that showed something different, that among chimps, not unlike her beloved bonobos, it was the small clique of females at the center of the social group that were actually in charge. They maintained tight bonds between each other through grooming and sharing food (though not typically like the bonobos by rubbing their crotches together or tongue kissing). And they showed clearly to the rest of the group, through their body language and complex vocalizations, that it was they made the most important decisions: about who ate what, and in which order, about who slept where, about which males would be given the best chances to reproduce with them.

When they'd reviewed their main goal they turned to more practical problems. It was going to be tough keeping the undergrads in check and developing a clear chain of command for their work in the field. They had to set some clear ground rules and establish a system for who was going to monitor and enforce them. None of the women wanted to be in charge of this because they were all too focused on the chimps to want to worry about the students. The undergrads were just tools to help them meet their primary objective. Karin had a good idea.

"What if we appoint one of the students as undergrad leader. She could be the bad cop to make sure the other kids are doing their jobs."

"Good idea," Kate replied immediately.

"But who?" asked Jess.

"What about Elise," Karin proposed. "She's smart and a hard worker. She really impressed me in Brian's class last term. She struggled at first but she kept coming to my office hours, Brian's too, and she improved dramatically. She got one of the few A's in the class!"

Kate didn't like Elise much for some reason, she wasn't sure why, but she didn't have time to worry about the details on this one.

"Good," she declared, "Elise it is. Anything else before the first session?"

Jess spoke up this time.

"Well, maybe we should make one of the guys an undergrad leader too," she said, rolling her eyes playfully. "I mean there's only three of them, and I don't think they could cause much trouble with a rebellion or something. But if they have to follow orders from four females the whole month their brains might explode!"

Everyone laughed.

"Okay," said Kate, "which one?"

"What about Chad," Jess said, in a dreamy voice, doing a pretty good imitation of the way one of the undergrad girls would have said it.

They laughed again.

Kate suddenly realized she'd been watching Chad's table out of the corner of her eye every once in a while. A third girl had joined them now. A cute redhead named Ellen. And now all three girls were sitting as close to Chad as they could get and leaning toward him a little as they hung on his every word and smile, laughing at his jokes. The other guy at the table, poor thing, seemed kind of sulky about it.

"I don't know," Kate replied.

"No, I think he'd be very good," Jess continued, more seriously now. "I was his TA in your class remember, and he did very well. We gave him an A."

All three women turned their heads to watch Chad as he stood up and sauntered to the buffet table to refill his plate. He looked good in his grey "UNC Soccer" t-shirt and long shorts, snug around his waist and butt. He was still smiling from something he'd said to the girls at his table and he walked slowly and deliberately, strutting almost.

"I don't know," Kate said again. "He doesn't seem right."

"I agree," declared Karin. "Way too cocky."

"I know what you mean," Jess sighed teasingly. "Muy caliente!."

"That's not what I meant" Karin scolded her, only half serious. "He's barely legal for christ's sake."

"So?" asked Jess. "We're not so uptight about that stuff in Argentina."

Karin laughed but Kate wrinkled her nose again. She was going to need to have a talk with Jess about respecting boundaries.

"And if you think he looks good in those shorts," Jess continued, "then check out his Facebook page. That's all I'm going to say."

Karin smiled knowingly, blushing a little, while Kate pretended to be confused. She hoped her cheeks weren't red too. There was an awkward silence for a few seconds.

"Look," Jess went on, "all I'm saying is that he looks like he'd do a good job keeping the other two guys in line. And if last night is any indication I think that he and Elise would work pretty well together."

She smiled playfully again. The other women tried to play dumb, but Jess kept probing and before long they'd all admitted to hearing them. It turned out that all of their rooms shared a wall or floor with the one Chad and Elise had slept in. Jessica's was below it, and Karin had the room on the other side of it from Kate's, the one without the headboard.

Karin and Jessica continued to chat as Kate's thoughts drifted back to last night and she felt a cramp rise in her stomach. Damn, maybe she really should have masturbated a second time.

She looked over at Chad's table and this time his body language was different. Ellen was talking and he was sitting up straight and smiling and nodding with an expression that showed he was listening to her carefully. He did seem wrong for the part in some ways, but the more she thought about it, and watched him, the more it made sense. He certainly looked the part, especially in that speedo, she thought to herself archly. But more importantly he had the qualities to be a good leader for the younger ones: disciplined, hard-working smart, and most of all, respectful of authority. Of female authority, she noted. She'd gotten a strong sense of that when they'd talked after class a couple times. There wasn't the slightest frat boy vibe from him at all, and she liked to think she was a pretty good judge of character.

"Agreed," she declared. "Chad it is."

The women stood up and headed out to their first session with the students.

Part 4

After a long day of orientation sessions this was the last place she wanted to be. But it was important that she make her presence felt at the evening reception she'd scheduled for the end of the first day of work. She noted with disapproval that some of the kids, and even Jess and Karin, were drinking. Was that even legal here for the undergrads?

Kate stood near the center of the room with Karin and Jess, making small talk about the day's sessions and complimenting each other about how they'd handled themselves today. They were turning out to be a great team. Kate liked them and was looking forward to spending more down time with them like this, cutting loose a little bit. But tonight she just wanted to get to bed, especially now that the some of the undergrads were a little drunk and had started getting louder and rowdier.

She appraised the other two guys on the trip (besides Chad) as one punched the other in the shoulder and they doubled over laughing. She thought they'd been saying something about Elise, judging from where their eyes had been, looking straight at her butt as she started to sway a little on the dance floor and the hem of her cute little sundress rose up. Jess offered to get her a drink.

"Sure," Kate replied.

She'd stay for one drink and then head up to bed.

Ten minutes later as the women continued to chat she noticed that Chad was walking straight toward them. When he was a few feet away he stopped suddenly and surveyed the group cautiously, almost shyly, unsure of what to do next. Jess noticed him first.

"Hi Chad!," she said excitedly, making big, bright eyes.

"Hi Professor Aguero," he answered with a friendly smile.

"Call me Jess, silly, I'm not a real professor. Yet."

Karin shot a look at Kate and rolled her eyes.

"Okay, Hi Jessica," Chad said, a little flustered. He was very cute.

"Hi Professor Stern," he said, turning to face Karin.

"I guess I'm not a professor either, technically," she replied with a little edge in her voice. "You can call me Karin."

"Hi Karin," he replied, smiling again, but with more formality this time, more respect. He turned to face Kate.

"Hello Professor Morgan."

"Hello Chad," she replied, smiling warmly. "I'm so glad the summer scholarship came through so that you could be here after all."

Chad blushed a little and stole quick glances at Karin and Jessica to see how they'd reacted. Kate felt awful. She could tell he was very sensitive about being a scholarship kid from the foothills. They all stood there for a few seconds awkwardly.

"Thanks. Me too," Chad replied, trying to recover his poise.

He shifted his feet for another second or two. He really was adorable. He'd changed into something nicer for the reception and he looked charming and handsome in his short-sleeved collared shirt (linen, and blue like his eyes) and a pair of pressed khakis. None of the other kids had dressed up and Kate found the gesture touching.

"Well, anyhow," Chad continued, bowing his head slightly as he turned toward Kate again. "I just wanted to thank you for making me undergrad team leader. I really appreciate it. I'll definitely do my best to repay your confidence in me."

"You're very welcome, Chad. I'm sure you will," Kate replied, again smiling.

"Don't thank us," Jessica jumped in, making bright eyes at Chad. "You earned it."

She poked him in the ribs as she said it. Chad took a half step backwards in surprise, grinning awkwardly.

"You should have heard me telling Kate—sorry, Professor Morgan—about all the hard work you did in my lab section last semester. You were fantastic!"

Had Kate imagined it, or had Jessica put an added emphasis on the word hard as she'd spoken it, stealing a quick look at Chad's crotch as she reached forward to poke him? And was her menstrual cycle playing tricks on her again, or had Chad returned the favor, scanning Jessica up and down coolly, just once, almost too quick to see, before he remembered where he was, and who he was talking to, and turned to face Kate again.

"Thanks. It means a lot me. Have a great night!"

He turned and walked toward the dance floor where a few of the undergrads were beginning to gather. Kate couldn't help laughing a little as he walked straight up to Ellen, smiled flirtatiously, and shook his hips a little, grabbing her hands and pulling her away from the group, where they had more room to move. She noticed Jessica and Karin watching too.

"Well, he's a charmer," Karin noted drily.

Jess nodded absent-mindedly.

"Well, I think it's time for me to have one more drink," Jess declared, then turned and strode toward the bar near where the undergrads had all started dancing now.

"Uh-oh. Trouble," said Karin.

"What?" Kate asked, pretending not to have noticed.

"You really have been out of the game for a long time. You didn't feel the sparks between those two? I was afraid my cheeks would turn red."

"No, not really," Kate replied.

Karin raised her eyebrows and shook her head. They stood there for a few seconds watching the students. Karin started moving her shoulders a little in time to the music, loosening her neck and staring vaguely in Chad and Ellen's direction, Kate couldn't be sure. She felt tired and lonely all of a sudden.

"Big day tomorrow," she declared finally, "I'm going up to my room to try and have an early night."

"Me too," said Karin, after pausing a second or two to consider. She placed her drink down on the nearest table.

The two women turned their backs to the students and headed for the elevator.

Part 5

Around midnight Chad and Elise stumbled drunk into his bedroom and started ripping each other's clothes off. They were horny as hell. The sexual tension caused by Chad's flirting with Ellen had really gotten Elise worked up, which had been his plan all along, and Chad was beyond excited by Jessica's moves on the dance floor. But they were tired and had a long day tomorrow so they wanted to hurry. Within seconds they were on the bed in their favorite position—Elise on all fours with Chad behind her.

Her pussy felt great and her tight litle ass was a sight to behold but Chad couldn't get Jessica out of his head. Not that he wanted to. How was it possible that he'd never noticed her before? Olive-skinned Latina. Great body. He'd definitely gotten a little vibe from her, first when he was chatting with her in a circle with Karin and Professor Morgan, and then a little stronger when she came out on the dance floor for a song or two before she headed up to bed. He'd watched her carefully. There was nothing particularly salacious about her moves, though she looked really fine doing them. All three of the undergrad guys, including Chad, had gravitated toward her on the dance floor. They were practically surrounding her as she let herself go a little and enjoyed the music. Still, he wasn't picking up much.

But then, just for a split second, she'd turned toward him and flashed a heart-melting smile, maybe a little too playful, while she swayed her hips. Then she turned around and stuck her ass out at him while she shook it a little. Chad had laughed. It was like his body gave off a gravitational force that drew female sex organs toward him. He had to turn around and un-tuck his shirt to hide his hard-on.

It hadn't been like she had one of those flashing signs over her head ("Available to Mount") that he was used to seeing when he pursued undergrad girls, like Ellen had had tonight. But there were some signals for sure. It was no accident that today was the first time he'd noticed her tits and ass, and no accident that he was fantasizing about them now as he fucked Elise a little harder and rubbed her anus with his thumb, feeling his pleasure mount. Intentionally or not, Jessica had done something to make him notice her physical charms, had displayed her body to him to let him know she was receptive.

It was not totally unlike the female chimps in estrus he'd learned about from Professor Phare. He remembered his lecture about the way the females advertise their fertility through an obvious swelling of the genitals, among other signs, and his theory that human females had never lost these traits completely. They did pretty much the same thing, though scientists normally thought of them as having evolved "concealed ovulation" as a more effective mating strategy.

That was part of the story, sure, but if you thought about in a different light, Professor Phare insisted, you started to see all kinds of subtle ways that female humans still proclaimed when they were fertile and willing. Through engorged breasts and clitoris, changes in scent, body language, and the sound of their voice. There were a bunch of recent studies showing that women were more likely to wear eye-catching colors like red and pink when they were ovulating, and that on those days they were attracted to more dominant guys, even if they were in a relationship (actually, even more strongly if they were in a relationship with a nice guy, a provider type). It was as if on those days their primate brains took over and they started hunting for the most successful male genes around, looking for things like stronger odors, square jaws, deeper voices, more aggressive behavior. Jessica had been wearing maroon today, he noted. He remembered Professor Phare's suggestion that "alpha males" possessed a kind of sixth sense that let them pick up on such signals when other males couldn't.

Karin and Kate had looked great too. Particularly Kate—Professor Morgan he corrected himself. He'd definitely gotten a better sense of her figure in that white blouse, without her customary jacket. He was pretty sure that she had some fantastic tits under there, some of the best large ones he'd ever seen in person. She reminded him of a porn actress in some video he liked. He didn't watch porn much. Didn't have time to. But like any guy he kept a steady supply of it on hand for when he needed it, mostly during the weeknights when he was too tired from working out and studying to want to go out and party, or even to text one of the girls he was fucking that month.