Human ape
Encyclopedia
Human Ape is a National Geographic
documentary film
on the genetic and evolutionary origins of human behavior
, and covers the genetic and behavioural similarities and differences between humans and great apes. The award-winning independent production company
Pioneer Productions
of London
was commissioned by National Geographic Channels International to produce Human Ape.
Pioneer’s expertise with special effect
s are showcased in documentary films such as The Living Body, Life Before Birth, In the Womb
: Animals, In The Womb: Multiples and The Body Atlas, all of which used wide ranging techniques to explore the inner world of the living organisms.
Human Ape was executive produced by Stuart Carter for Pioneer Productions and directed by Martin Gorst. It was commissioned by Sydney Suissa, Executive Vice President (Content), National Geographic Channels International, and distributed by National Geographic Channel and Granada International.
The show was aired on both the US and internationally on National Geographic Channel beginning in March 2008.
Human Ape includes brief actual footage of human
and ape
activities in controlled experiments, as well as state-of-the-art computer-generated imagery (CGI
) to examine the relationship between humankind and our simian
cousins, with whom we share 99% of our genetic material. It also tracks the progress of a human and ape from the womb to early development and beyond, analysing how both develop cognitive abilities, communicate through emotions and language, use violence
and sex
, and utilise tool
s to manipulate their environment.
Bonobo
s and orangutan
s living at Great Ape Trust
of Iowa
are prominently featured in the documentary film. Bonobos Kanzi
and Panbanisha
and orangutans Knobi and Azy
are extensively shown in the film, with detailed inputs from the Great Ape Trust scientists, Dr. Rob Shumaker, director of orangutan research, and William Fields
, director of bonobo research.
The Pioneer Productions crew filmed at Great Ape Trust in April 2007, where footage included mirror self-recognition exercises. It also includes some exciting experiments like the apes counting
and identifying the numbers from 1 to 10, not only with accuracy, but also with such speed that would put a human to shame. Whereas the human child is shown to be imitating the steps taken by one researcher to open a box and get a reward, the apes quickly eliminate the redundant steps. Such experiments are counter-intuitive and offers great deal of insights into the inner wiring and workings of the human and simian brains.
Stuart Carter, Managing Director, Pioneer Productions was quoted by the website:
“We have long had a fascination with our genetic similarities to apes, and this film explores the question of how far these similarities go. Pioneer Productions specialises in cutting-edge scientific documentaries and this 2 hour landmark programme provides viewers with a fascinating insight into what really makes us human.”
The website also quotes Sydney Suissa, Executive Vice President of Content, National Geographic Channels International:
“With their capacity for memory
, communication
and even problem solving
, apes may be more closely related to humans than we previously thought The Human Ape uses unique scientific research and some amazing 4d technology to examine our relationship with apes, enlightening viewers about our primate cousins.”
Al Setka, Great Ape Trust communications director, is also quoted by the site:
“For decades, the world has been educated and entertained by National Geographic documentaries. This film, Human Ape, continues in that tradition and will communicate to viewers the scientific importance of studying ape culture, language, tool use
and intelligence
.”
National Geographic Channel
National Geographic Channel, also commercially abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo, is a subscription television channel that airs non-fiction television programs produced by the National Geographic Society. Like History and the Discovery Channel, the channel features documentaries with factual...
documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
on the genetic and evolutionary origins of human behavior
Human behavior
Human behavior refers to the range of behaviors exhibited by humans and which are influenced by culture, attitudes, emotions, values, ethics, authority, rapport, hypnosis, persuasion, coercion and/or genetics....
, and covers the genetic and behavioural similarities and differences between humans and great apes. The award-winning independent production company
Production company
A production company provides the physical basis for works in the realms of the performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, and video.- Tasks and functions :...
Pioneer Productions
Pioneer Productions
Pioneer Productions is an independent British television production company based in London, United Kingdom. The company has produced over 500 hours of science and technology, docudrama, lifestyle, current affairs and history programming for both the US and International markets...
of London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
was commissioned by National Geographic Channels International to produce Human Ape.
Pioneer’s expertise with special effect
Special effect
The illusions used in the film, television, theatre, or entertainment industries to simulate the imagined events in a story are traditionally called special effects ....
s are showcased in documentary films such as The Living Body, Life Before Birth, In the Womb
In The Womb
In the Womb is a documentary television special miniseries that premiered on March 6, 2005 on the National Geographic Channel. Originally beginning as a special about human pregnancy , the program features the development of embryos in the uterus of various animal species...
: Animals, In The Womb: Multiples and The Body Atlas, all of which used wide ranging techniques to explore the inner world of the living organisms.
Human Ape was executive produced by Stuart Carter for Pioneer Productions and directed by Martin Gorst. It was commissioned by Sydney Suissa, Executive Vice President (Content), National Geographic Channels International, and distributed by National Geographic Channel and Granada International.
The show was aired on both the US and internationally on National Geographic Channel beginning in March 2008.
Human Ape includes brief actual footage of human
Human
Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...
and ape
Ape
Apes are Old World anthropoid mammals, more specifically a clade of tailless catarrhine primates, belonging to the biological superfamily Hominoidea. The apes are native to Africa and South-east Asia, although in relatively recent times humans have spread all over the world...
activities in controlled experiments, as well as state-of-the-art computer-generated imagery (CGI
Computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
) to examine the relationship between humankind and our simian
Simian
The simians are the "higher primates" familiar to most people: the Old World monkeys and apes, including humans, , and the New World monkeys or platyrrhines. Simians tend to be larger than the "lower primates" or prosimians.- Classification and evolution :The simians are split into three groups...
cousins, with whom we share 99% of our genetic material. It also tracks the progress of a human and ape from the womb to early development and beyond, analysing how both develop cognitive abilities, communicate through emotions and language, use violence
Violence
Violence is the use of physical force to apply a state to others contrary to their wishes. violence, while often a stand-alone issue, is often the culmination of other kinds of conflict, e.g...
and sex
Sexual intercourse
Sexual intercourse, also known as copulation or coitus, commonly refers to the act in which a male's penis enters a female's vagina for the purposes of sexual pleasure or reproduction. The entities may be of opposite sexes, or they may be hermaphroditic, as is the case with snails...
, and utilise tool
Tool
A tool is a device that can be used to produce an item or achieve a task, but that is not consumed in the process. Informally the word is also used to describe a procedure or process with a specific purpose. Tools that are used in particular fields or activities may have different designations such...
s to manipulate their environment.
Bonobo
Bonobo
The bonobo , Pan paniscus, previously called the pygmy chimpanzee and less often, the dwarf or gracile chimpanzee, is a great ape and one of the two species making up the genus Pan. The other species in genus Pan is Pan troglodytes, or the common chimpanzee...
s and orangutan
Orangutan
Orangutans are the only exclusively Asian genus of extant great ape. The largest living arboreal animals, they have proportionally longer arms than the other, more terrestrial, great apes. They are among the most intelligent primates and use a variety of sophisticated tools, also making sleeping...
s living at Great Ape Trust
Great Ape Trust
The Great Ape Trust is a ape sanctuary and language study in Des Moines, Iowa, that houses orangutans and bonobos. The sanctuary opened to primates on September 28, 2004. The mission of the Great Ape Trust is studying language, culture, intelligence, and tool use in primates...
of Iowa
Iowa
Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...
are prominently featured in the documentary film. Bonobos Kanzi
Kanzi
Kanzi , also known by the lexigram , is a male bonobo who has been featured in several studies on great ape language. According to Sue Savage-Rumbaugh, a primatologist who has studied the bonobo throughout her life, Kanzi has exhibited advanced linguistic aptitude.- Biography :Born to Lorel and...
and Panbanisha
Panzee and Panbanisha
Panpanzee, often called "Panzee", and Panbanisha, also known by the lexigram , are two apes with whom research is being carried out in the United States. Panzee lives at the Language Research Center at Georgia State University and Panbanisha lives at the Great Ape Trust in Iowa...
and orangutans Knobi and Azy
Azy (orangutan)
Azy, is a 33-year-old male orangutan. He was born at Smithsonian’s National Zoological Park in 1977 and lived briefly at the Albuquerque Zoo. He returned to the National Zoo in 1980. In 1995, Azy began living at the Think Tank building and participating in the Zoo's Orangutan Language Project with...
are extensively shown in the film, with detailed inputs from the Great Ape Trust scientists, Dr. Rob Shumaker, director of orangutan research, and William Fields
William M. Fields
William M. Fields , also known by the lexigram , is an American qualitative investigator studying language, culture, and tools in non-human primates. He is best known for his collaboration with Sue Savage-Rumbaugh beginning in 1997 at the Language Research Center of Georgia State University. There...
, director of bonobo research.
The Pioneer Productions crew filmed at Great Ape Trust in April 2007, where footage included mirror self-recognition exercises. It also includes some exciting experiments like the apes counting
Counting
Counting is the action of finding the number of elements of a finite set of objects. The traditional way of counting consists of continually increasing a counter by a unit for every element of the set, in some order, while marking those elements to avoid visiting the same element more than once,...
and identifying the numbers from 1 to 10, not only with accuracy, but also with such speed that would put a human to shame. Whereas the human child is shown to be imitating the steps taken by one researcher to open a box and get a reward, the apes quickly eliminate the redundant steps. Such experiments are counter-intuitive and offers great deal of insights into the inner wiring and workings of the human and simian brains.
Stuart Carter, Managing Director, Pioneer Productions was quoted by the website:
“We have long had a fascination with our genetic similarities to apes, and this film explores the question of how far these similarities go. Pioneer Productions specialises in cutting-edge scientific documentaries and this 2 hour landmark programme provides viewers with a fascinating insight into what really makes us human.”
The website also quotes Sydney Suissa, Executive Vice President of Content, National Geographic Channels International:
“With their capacity for memory
Memory
In psychology, memory is an organism's ability to store, retain, and recall information and experiences. Traditional studies of memory began in the fields of philosophy, including techniques of artificially enhancing memory....
, communication
Communication
Communication is the activity of conveying meaningful information. Communication requires a sender, a message, and an intended recipient, although the receiver need not be present or aware of the sender's intent to communicate at the time of communication; thus communication can occur across vast...
and even problem solving
Problem solving
Problem solving is a mental process and is part of the larger problem process that includes problem finding and problem shaping. Consideredthe most complex of all intellectual functions, problem solving has been defined as higher-order cognitive process that requires the modulation and control of...
, apes may be more closely related to humans than we previously thought The Human Ape uses unique scientific research and some amazing 4d technology to examine our relationship with apes, enlightening viewers about our primate cousins.”
Al Setka, Great Ape Trust communications director, is also quoted by the site:
“For decades, the world has been educated and entertained by National Geographic documentaries. This film, Human Ape, continues in that tradition and will communicate to viewers the scientific importance of studying ape culture, language, tool use
Tool use by animals
Tools are used by some animals, particularly primates, to perform simple tasks such as the acquisition of food, or grooming. Originally thought to be a skill only possessed by humans, tool use requires some level of intelligence. Primates have been observed exploiting sticks and stones to...
and intelligence
Intelligence
Intelligence has been defined in different ways, including the abilities for abstract thought, understanding, communication, reasoning, learning, planning, emotional intelligence and problem solving....
.”
External links
- http://www.greatapetrust.org/media/releases/2008/nr_13a08.php
- http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/episode/human-ape-3173/Overview#tab-facts
- Kanzi: The Ape at the Brink of the Human Mind [Paperback
]