''Human Ape'' is a 2008

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

on the genetic and evolutionary origins of

human behavior Human behavior is the potential and expressed capacity (Energy (psychological), mentally, Physical activity, physically, and Social action, socially) of human individuals or groups to respond to internal and external Stimulation, stimuli throu ...

, and covers the genetic and behavioural similarities and differences between humans and other

great ape The Hominidae (), whose members are known as the great apes or hominids (), are a taxonomic family of primates that includes eight extant species in four genera: '' Pongo'' (the Bornean, Sumatran and Tapanuli orangutan); '' Gorilla'' (the ...

s. Pioneer Productions of London was commissioned by National Geographic Channels International to produce ''Human Ape''. ''Human Ape'' was executive produced by Stuart Carter and directed by Martin Gorst. distributed by National Geographic Channel and

Granada International ITV Studios Limited is a British multinational television media company owned by British television broadcaster ITV plc. It handles production and distribution of programmes broadcast on the ITV network and third-party broadcasters, and is ba ...

. The show was aired on both the US and internationally on National Geographic Channel beginning in March 2008. ''Human Ape'' includes brief footage of

human Humans (''Homo sapiens'') or modern humans are the most common and widespread species of primate, and the last surviving species of the genus ''Homo''. They are Hominidae, great apes characterized by their Prehistory of nakedness and clothing ...

and

ape Apes (collectively Hominoidea ) are a superfamily of Old World simians native to sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia (though they were more widespread in Africa, most of Asia, and Europe in prehistory, and counting humans are found global ...

activities in

controlled experiment A scientific control is an experiment or observation designed to minimize the effects of variables other than the independent variable (i.e. confounding variables). This increases the reliability of the results, often through a comparison betw ...

s, as well as state-of-the-art computer-generated imagery ( CGI) to examine the relationship between humankind and their

simian The simians, anthropoids, or higher primates are an infraorder (Simiiformes ) of primates containing all animals traditionally called monkeys and apes. More precisely, they consist of the parvorders New World monkey, Platyrrhini (New World mon ...

cousins, who share 99% of their genetic material. It also tracks the progress of a human and a non-human ape from the

womb The uterus (from Latin ''uterus'', : uteri or uteruses) or womb () is the organ in the reproductive system of most female mammals, including humans, that accommodates the embryonic and fetal development of one or more fertilized eggs until bi ...

to early development and beyond, analysing how both develop cognitive abilities, communicate through emotions and language, use

violence Violence is characterized as the use of physical force by humans to cause harm to other living beings, or property, such as pain, injury, disablement, death, damage and destruction. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines violence a ...

and sex, and utilise

tool A tool is an Physical object, object that can extend an individual's ability to modify features of the surrounding environment or help them accomplish a particular task. Although many Tool use by animals, animals use simple tools, only human bei ...

s to manipulate their environment.

Bonobo The bonobo (; ''Pan paniscus''), also historically called the pygmy chimpanzee (less often the dwarf chimpanzee or gracile chimpanzee), is an endangered great ape and one of the two species making up the genus ''Pan (genus), Pan'' (the other bei ...

s and

orangutan Orangutans are great apes native to the rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia. They are now found only in parts of Borneo and Sumatra, but during the Pleistocene they ranged throughout Southeast Asia and South China. Classified in the genus ...

s living at Great Ape Trust of

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

are prominently featured in the documentary film. Bonobos

Kanzi Kanzi (October 28, 1980 – March 18, 2025), also known by the lexigram (from the character 太), was a male bonobo who was the subject of several studies on great ape language. According to Sue Savage-Rumbaugh, a primatologist who h ...

and

Panbanisha Panbanisha (November 17, 1985 – November 6, 2012), also known by the Yerkish#Lexigram_concept, lexigram , was a female bonobo that featured in studies on great ape language by Professor Sue Savage-Rumbaugh. Her name is Swahili language, Sw ...

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 experiments like the apes

counting Counting is the process of determining the number of elements of a finite set of objects; that is, determining the size of a set. The traditional way of counting consists of continually increasing a (mental or spoken) counter by a unit for ever ...

and identifying the numbers from 1 to 10 with accuracy. 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 offer insight into the inner wiring and workings of human and simian brains. The film also touches briefly upon the relationship between the modified

FOXP2 Forkhead box protein P2 (FOXP2) is a protein that, in humans, is encoded by the ''FOXP2'' gene. FOXP2 is a member of the forkhead box family of transcription factors, proteins that Regulation of gene expression, regulate gene expression by DNA- ...

gene and the human language development. It documents a British family with a mutated FOXP2 gene which severely affects speech of its members.

References

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20090106023725/http://www.greatapetrust.org./media/releases/2008/nr_13a08.php *

*
Kanzi: The Ape at the Brink of the Human Mind [Paperback
/nowiki>">aperback">Kanzi: The Ape at the Brink of the Human Mind [Paperback
/nowiki>*
Kanzi: The Ape at the Brink of the Human Mind
:: _{''" ...remarkable story of a "talking" chimp, a leading scientist, and the profound insights they have uncovered about our species ''} :: _{''"... featured in cover stories in Time, Newsweek, and National Geographic ... subject of a "NOVA" documentary ... directly responsible for discoveries ... forced the scientific community ...recast its thinking ... nature of the mind and the origins of language ... Kanzi ... overturned the idea that symbolic language is unique to our species..."''}
The 'Human Ape' documentary
{{National Geographic films National Geographic (American TV channel) original programming Works about genetics

See also

References

External links