Orangutans

At a research site in Fongoli, Senegal, a female chimpanzee breaks off a branch, chews the end to make it sharp, then uses this rudimentary spear to skewer a tasty bushbaby hiding inside a hollow tree. The footage represents an astonishing breakthrough for primate researchers: It’s 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 (see Our Family Tree)—the more evidence they find of creative intelligence. What, then, is the essential difference between us and them? “Ape Genius,” a NOVA-National Geographic special, explores that provocative question and examines research that is illuminating the ape mind.

Living With Orangutans.
The Mystery Of The Shroud.
Heart Of The Canadian Rockies.

Written by a molecular biologist at the forefront of genomics research, Darwin in the Genome is an exciting account of one of the hottest new theories in biology today: evolution by natural selection inevitably leads to strategic mutations. In the struggle for survival, from pathogens to flowers, birds to orangutans, baker's yeast to people, the fittest genomes are those that evolve effective molecular strategies that respond to, and in fact anticipate, challenges and opportunities in their environments. Writing in a clear, accessible style, Lynn Caporale describes the emergence of genomic mutation strategies, which researchers are just beginning to uncover. She also spells out some of the more profound implications of these findings, including the importance of biodiversity, indeed human diversity, for survival, the possibility of bold new directions for medical research, and the inherent dangers of attempting to fix perceived "errors" in a human genome.

Deviants? tracks some of the oddest sexual behavior in the known world. Humans aren’t the only ones to experiment with different sexual practices. When it comes to “deviant” sexual behavior, animals can put human efforts to shame. In the animal world deviancy isn’t just tolerated, it’s a way of life. This is an extraordinary world of weird sex, of sex without reproduction, and reproduction without sex. Animals have perfected inventive methods of masturbation, and homosexual activities. Orangutans can actually invert their male organ to create a cavity for another male to penetrate. In nature, it’s as if there are no limits. Sex solely for the sake of reproduction? This film exposes that notion as a myth. Learn how asexuals, hermaphrodites, homosexuals, and transvestites are just a gentle introduction into what looks like a sex-crazed animal world. Animals have learned to get what they want, when they want it, and in ways which (to humans at least) might seem extreme.

A light and tumble journey across town to the zoo can bring encounters with the honest monkeys, kindly elephants, and skeptical orangutans.

What makes a dog a dog? Rogers and Kaplan (Orangutans, 2000; Not Only Roars and Rituals, 1998) answer this question and others as they explore the world's wild dogs. Dogs were domesticated roughly 135,000

Great apes - chimps, bonobos, orangutans and gorillas - are our nearest relatives.