102 Chapter 7 Although the chief benefit of gaze monitoring is presumably that it reveals whether another animal has spotted something of interest, Gdmez (1991) suggests that another function of EDD among higher primates derives from their understanding not only that eyes can see but also that “attentional contact” is need- ed for basic communication, such as when one animal is request- ing the help of another ina task that the first animal cannot solve alone. Finally, Chance (1956, 1967) argues that in primates eye direc- tion reveals the social structure: infants attend to their mothers, mothers to their mates, mates to the more dominant males, and so on, all the way up the social hierarchy. This behavior, which Chance calls the “attention structure,” may function to maintain a stable social hierarchy without the need for frequent aggres- sive interactions. That is to say, monitoring who is looking at who gives any member of the group an instant, non-verbal sum- mary of who to defer to, who not to threaten, and who is allied with who. Gaze gives an instant snapshot of social status in a group. Such information may be invaluable as a way of avoid- ing threatening established hierarchies accidentally, since this carries the risk of retaliation. To get more of a flavor of the evolution of EDD in primates, consider its use in the following scenario, which involves an encounter between Alex, who has just entered a new social group, and Thalia, with whom Alex is keen to become acquaint- ed: Alex stared at Thalia until she turned and almost caught him looking at her. He glanced away immediately, and then she stared at him until his head began to turn toward her. She [quickly looked toward the ground], but as soon as Alex looked away, her gaze returned to him. They went on like this for more than fifteen minutes, always with split-second timing. Finally, Alex managed to catch Thalia looking at him. He made the friendly eyes . . . [and then] approached [her]. (Leakey and Lewin 1992, pp. 287-288)" You could be forgiven for assuming that this couple was human. In fact, Alex and Thalia are members of a troop of baboons that