There is a commonly-held - though contentious, if not outright fallacious - notion that environmental conditions in Europe helped to shape complex society there

There is a commonly-held - though contentious, if not outright fallacious - notion that environmental conditions in Europe helped to shape complex society there. On that same token, between African primates, elephants, and giraffes, one has to wonder if there's something about the African forests and savannah that encouraged the development of complex social arrangements (and the intelligence involved in maintaining them).