A study in the Western University of Australia examined facial hair among primates to detect if their was a correlation between the amount of facial hair a primate has and how well its mating season went. The scientific article posted on the publishing of Dr. Cyril Grueter in the online journal Evolution and Human Behavior. The wording and phrasing is highly scientific and academic due to the fact that it was published on the university website. The writer even makes use of the Latin names to many of the primates, instead of their common names. The study compares human characteristics to the characteristic our distant relatives, the primates. The approach uses logic, as opposed to feelings or ethics. As such, the rhetoric of this research can easily be categorized as logos.
Dr. Cyril Grueter seems to have gathered his research in expeditions to China and Rwanda, observing primates. Although Grueter is an experienced anthropologist, he only earned his PhD in 2009. His work seems credible, but his studies could have more detailed and I’m sure this lack of information has to do with his young age.
Their study connects the increase of facial hair among men to the increase in population. They believe that when the pool for men increases in a society, the men produce badges or ornaments to stand out among the other men. Primates seem to display the same behavior. If the population of males increase among primates, the males must appear more “masculine” or just stand out more. The best way to do this for both humans and primates is to display something that attracts the eyes. This may take the form of colors, fabrics or hair. They continue to argue that men grow facial hair in order to stand out in large pools of men to attract females. It may work and it may not work, but it is apparently our instinct to do something.
However, they argue that when males, both primates and men, live in small groups and societies they have no urge to display their badges. Everyone in the community knows one another. Yet, in a large community where everyone is a stranger to one another, “we need a quick reliable tool to evaluate someone’s strength and quality, and that’s where these elaborate ornaments come in.” We being both males and primates. Their study brings up many interesting ideas about fashion and the characteristics of men.
http://www.news.uwa.edu.au/201503257429/research/beards-badges-honour