SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN FRONTIERS: PRIME-TIME PRIMATES (TV)
Summary
One in this series of science documentaries hosted by Alan Alda. In the first segment of this primate special, Alda goes to the Yerkes Primate Center in Atlanta, where primatologist Frans De Waal is studying how primates' behavior in crowded living situations can be related to the human condition. De Waal talks about the animals' facial expressions, behaviors, and morality. Then Alda talks with Lisa Parr, a student who is studying capuchins. Parr conducts a laboratory experiment, involving two capuchins in adjacent cages, which illustrates the passive food-sharing behavior of these animals. The second segment focuses on chimpanzees. Baby chimps are completely dependent on their mothers, but chimps born in captivity are often neglected by their mothers, so they have to be raised by humans. Kim Bard talks to Alda about a baby chimp she's raising, and Alda visits with other people who work with chimps, and they explain what specific chimp behaviors and expressions mean.
In the third segment, Alda talks with Mike Tomasello, who works at Yerkes, about the chimps' use of tools. Then, experiments are performed with orangutans to see how well they are able to learn through observation. Afterwards, the orangutans' method of learning is compared to those of human children. The fourth segment features Sally Boysen, who talks to Alda about her work teaching chimpanzees elementary math skills and about her belief that the chimpanzee's ability to work with numbers is intuitive. She also demonstrates the way that she "trains" the animals. In the fifth segment, Alda visits a forest in North Carolina, which is owned by Duke University and is home to about five hundred lemurs. Duke University psychologist Carl Erickson conducts experiments in order to figure out how the aye-aye lemur manages to find the worms and insect larvae it subsists on, for this lemur finds its food, which is hidden in the inside of tree branches, at night in the rainforest. The aye-aye also demonstrates the use of its extraordinary six-inch-long middle finger. In the final segment, Alda visits the island of Cayo Santiago, off the coast of Puerto Rico, where a population of 900 wild macaque (rhesus) monkeys live. John Berard, of the University of Puerto Rico, studies the mating relationships and genetic diversity in this population. Alda describes details of the monkeys' social structure and reproductive habits, and the monkeys' behavior is observed and discussed.
Cataloging of this program was made possible by Alan Alda.
Details
- NETWORK: PBS
- DATE: 1995
- RUNNING TIME: 0:56:30
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:61909
- GENRE: Public affairs/Documentaries; Science/Nature
- SUBJECT HEADING: Aye - aye; Capuchin monkeys; Chimpanzees; Lemurs; Orangutan; Primates - Behavior; Primates - Training; Rhesus monkey
- SERIES RUN: PBS - TV Series, 1990-
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- John Angier … Executive Producer
- Graham Chedd … Executive Producer, Director, Writer
- Jill Singer … Producer, Director, Writer
- Laura Russell … Associate Producer
- Jeremy Angier … Animation
- Randy Roos … Music by
- Alan Alda … Host
- Kim Bard
- John Berard
- Sally Boysen
- De Waal, Frans
- Carl Erickson
- Lisa Parr
- Mike Tomasello