Very good, eye-opening documentary.
Broadcast (2008) At a research site in Fongoli, Senegal, a female
chimpanzee breaks off a branch, chews the end to make it sharp, then
uses this rudimentary spear to skewer a tasty bushbaby hiding inside a
hollow tree. The footage represents an astonishing breakthrough for
primate researchers: It's the first time anyone has documented a
chimpanzee wielding a carefully prepared, preplanned weapon.
But
it's only the latest in a slew of extraordinary new findings about ape
behavior. The more researchers learn about the great apes—chimpanzees,
bonobos, gorillas, and orangutans (see Our Family Tree)—the more
evidence they find of creative intelligence. What, then, is the
essential difference between us and them? "Ape Genius," a NOVA-National
Geographic special, explores that provocative question and examines
research that is illuminating the ape mind.
The spear-wielding
chimps were documented by anthropologist Jill Pruetz of Iowa State
University, who also observed the Fongoli colony doing something else
never documented before: holding a pool party. Chimps were long thought
to be afraid of water, but as charming poolside footage reveals, these
hairy bathers swing from the trees and take the plunge in high spirits.
In
addition to Pruetz, "Ape Genius" features contributions by other noted
researchers, including Brian Hare of Duke University, Andrew Whiten of
the University of St. Andrews, Tetsuro Matsuzawa of Kyoto University,
Rebecca Saxe of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Josep
Call and Michael Tomasello of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary
Anthropology. (For an extended interview with Rebecca Saxe, see The Ape
That Teaches.)
Bit by bit, these investigators are converging on
an explanation for why the non-human great apes never made the
breakthrough into an accelerating human-style culture that builds on the
achievements of previous generations. After all, apes are stronger and
more agile than we are. They have also shown previously unsuspected
talents for reasoning, creative problem solving, and other intelligent
traits. Some have even demonstrated rudimentary language abilities (see
Kanzi the Bonobo). And their emotional lives seem on a par with ours, as
is evident in moving footage of a mother chimp dealing with the
sickness and death of her child.
But something has held them back. What?
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