Big Apes

gorilla
Listen nowDownload file
Embed player
Original Air Date: 
January 15, 2006

Do animals have culture? The orangutans of Sumatra certainly do. They've learned how to fish honey out of tiny termite nests, and to scoop the pulpy food out of razor-sharp fruits. What's more, they've passed on this knowledge to their offspring. Now, scientists think these primates may offer insights into our own cultural evolution. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, what the other primates reveal about ourselves. And, what really happened to the Neanderthals.

To The Best Of Our Knowledge
Audio

Carel Van Schaik tells Steve Paulson that orangutans, those great red apes, use tools and pass learning down from one generation to the next.

To The Best Of Our Knowledge
Audio

Birute Galdikas talks about her almost other-worldly experience of living with orangutans in Borneo.

To The Best Of Our Knowledge
Audio

Merian C. Cooper dreamed up the original "King Kong." Cooper was an Indiana Jones - type figure himself.

To The Best Of Our Knowledge
Audio

Frans de Waal talks with Jim Fleming about chimps, who can be aggressive and violent, and bonobos, who are mama's boys and like sex.

To The Best Of Our Knowledge
Audio

Erik Trinkaus tells Steve Paulson that many of our assumptions about them, and our other "cave man" ancestors are just plain wrong.

Show Details 📻
Airdates
February 18, 2007
Guests: 
Birute Galdikas
Wildlife Biologist
dewaal
C. H. Candler Professor of Psychology, Emory University
Anthropologist
Categories: 
Last modified: 
August 02, 2024