NOVA
Season 35 Episode 12 - Ape Genius
At a research site in Fongoli, Senegal, a female chimpanzee breaks off a branch, chews the end to make it sharp, and then uses this rudimentary spear to skewer a tasty bush baby hiding inside a hollow tree. It’s an astonishing breakthrough for primate researchers—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—the more evidence they find of creative intelligence. What, then, is the essential difference between them and us? "Ape Genius," a NOVA-National Geographic special, explores that provocative question and examines research that is illuminating the ape mind. Bit by bit, investigators are finding an explanation for why the non-human great apes never made the breakthrough into a human-style culture that builds on the achievements of previous generations.
Episodes in Season 35
Secrets of the Samurai Sword
55 min
Ghost in Your Genes
55 min
Marathon Challenge
55 min
Sputnik Declassified
55 min
Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial
55 min
Master of the Killer Ants
55 min
Missing in MiG Alley
55 min
Absolute Zero: The Conquest of Cold
55 min
Absolute Zero: The Race for Absolute Zero
55 min
Secrets of the Parthenon
55 min
Astrospies
55 min
Ape Genius
55 min
The Four Winged Dinosaur
55 min
Cracking the Maya Code
55 min
Car of the Future
55 min
A Walk to Beautiful
55 min
Lord of the Ants
55 min
