In "So Human, So Chimp", this week's segment of the PBS series The Human Spark, host Alan Alda introduces us to comparative behavioral studies of primates and human children. The beginning moments are telling. They present Alda sitting at a low table with two toddlers: Russell, a three-year-old human child, and Noah, a two-year-old chimpanzee. Both of these cute creatures are playing, and both are simultaneously vying for Alda's attention.
The Human Spark - Alan Alda and Two Primate Children. Photo Courtesy of WNET.ORG
While "So Human, So Chimp" has little to do with straight archaeology, the introduction to primate behavioral studies should hold quite a bit of interest to those who seek to understand what it is that separates us, or doesn't separate us, from our primate cousins and, of course, our ancient hominid ancestors. The program offers behavioral studies of chimpanzees, bonobos, apes, rhesus monkeys and gorillas, run by researchers at the North Carolina Zoo, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, the Ngamba Island Sanctuary, the Max Planck Institute, the Leipzig Zoo, Yale University and the Yerkes International Primate Research Center in Atlanta.
The experiments are fascinating, not the least because the human children don't always do better than their primate cousins. The list of behaviors studied within this young field of primate behavior include teaching and learning behaviors, the analysis of another's moods and needs, the application of strategies, the acquisition of cultural rules and the joyful motivation to help others. That's right, joyful. No kidding.
Man's Best Student: Alan Alda sees for himself that dogs can do something our closest relatives the chimpanzees can't: follow a pointing gesture. Photo ©Larry Engel 2008
One of the experiments illustrated in "So Human, So Chimp" shows us that some things which our nearest living neighbors don't understand, one animal we have kept near our sides for the past 15,000 years does. And isn't that interesting?
"So Human, So Chimp" was written by Graham Chedd, with substantial contributions by Brian Hare at Duke University, Daniel Povinelli at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and Michael Tomasello at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig. For those who want to probe into the academic literature, other scholars featured in the program include Frans de Waal, Laurie Santos, Felix Warneken, Victoria Horner and Juliane Kaminski. I found "So Human, So Chimp" understandable and intelligent, and like the excellent teaching tool it is, provoking me to look further into the subject, and to think about parallels between human behaviors that we see illustrated in our archaeological ruins and those that we can see performed by other species.
The Human Spark: "So Human, So Chimp" airs on Wednesday, January 13, and will be available on the PBS website after the air date.
- The Human Spark: So Human, So Chimp, the PBS Website, where you can check local listings and see some additional video clips
- The Human Spark: Becoming Us, review of the first video in the series
- Domestication of Dogs
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