0:00 I'm Dr Tera swinsky president and CEO
0:02 and chief scientific officer of the
0:03 diasy Guerilla
0:07 fund and I'm here to talk about each
0:09 great ape that's featured in the new
0:11 Planet of the Apes
0:15 trilogy what a lot of people don't
0:17 realize is that humans are considered
0:19 great apes as
0:22 well great apes are a group of animals
0:25 called hominids there's actually eight
0:28 species but you might be familiar with
0:30 the four most common types which are
0:31 chimpanzees gorillas orangutans and
0:35 bonobos
0:38 chimpanzees chimpanzees are the most
0:40 featured ape in the Planet of the Apes
0:42 trilogy although Caesar is shown to be a
0:45 pet in the movie chimpanzees and
0:47 actually all primates do not make good
0:49 pets for a chimpanzee to be a pet it has
0:51 to be taken away from its mother at
0:53 quite a young age and mother infant
0:55 bonds and chimpanzees and all the great
0:56 apes just like in humans are incredibly
0:58 strong so that's a very atic experience
1:00 for a young
1:04 chimpanzee chimpanzees communicate with
1:07 each other using a variety of both
1:08 gestural and vocal communication the
1:11 same way we do they have a pant hoot
1:13 which is a very loud sound that they
1:15 make when they're excited maybe when
1:16 they find a good food or if they hear
1:18 other chimpanzees in the
1:22 region so Caesar communicates with
1:25 humans in the movie using sign language
1:27 in the 1960s and70s sign language was a
1:29 really interesting uh area of research
1:32 with chimpanzees but actually with all
1:33 of the great apes so every one of the
1:35 great apes each species has actually
1:37 been taught to use sign
1:41 language and one of the amazing things
1:43 about chimpanzees is they have the
1:45 widest distribution of any of the great
1:47 apes they can live in rainforests or
1:49 they can live in savanas as well on the
1:51 western side there's the Western
1:53 subspecies and they live in countries
1:54 like Sagal and Mali and then you have
1:57 the Nigeria Cameroon chimpanzee which
1:59 not surprising is found in Nigeria and
2:01 Cameroon then there is the central
2:03 chimpanzee and they're found in gaban
2:05 the Republic of Congo Equatorial Guinea
2:07 and then on the far East Side you have
2:09 the Eastern chimpanzee and they live in
2:10 countries like Rwanda Bundi and
2:16 Tanzania when Caesar overtakes rocket
2:19 for Alpha status he is showing one of
2:22 the classic Hallmarks of chimpanzee
2:24 Behavior so male chimpanzees have linear
2:27 dominance hierarchies and they
2:28 definitely compete over the course of
2:30 their life to be dominant and the reason
2:32 for that is related to reproduction so
2:34 dominant male chimpanzees sire the
2:37 majority of Offspring in the movies
2:40 Caesar is portrayed when he has a infant
2:43 as sort of a a king and queen type
2:45 situation the two of them together and
2:46 that is not actually what we see in
2:48 chimpanzee Society chimpanzees have a
2:51 mating system that is called promiscuous
2:53 where males mate with multiple females
2:55 and females also mate with multiple
2:57 males I think one of the most incredible
2:59 things about chimpanzees that's been
3:00 shown is that they actually have protoc
3:02 cultures that are just like human
3:04 culture so culture is something that is
3:06 not something you learn in your
3:07 environment but it's actually passed on
3:09 socially so it's passed on generation to
3:12 generation and researchers have
3:14 documented that chimpanzees in the wild
3:16 have these different cultures so they
3:18 have different behaviors that have
3:19 nothing to do with their environment but
3:21 rather have been created by someone in
3:23 their group and then passed on over time
3:25 through social learning
3:30 in the movie you see chimps using
3:33 weapons quite a bit this is not
3:34 something we generally see a lot of in
3:36 the wild however there have been
3:38 examples of chimpanzees throwing sticks
3:41 and other objects down on human or other
3:43 observers probably the closest example
3:45 are there are chimpanzees in West Africa
3:48 who have been observed using sticks kind
3:50 of as Spears and putting them in holes
3:52 to try and stab another species of
3:55 primate called a bush baby
4:00 in the planet of the ape trilogies we
4:01 see the chimpanzees walking upright
4:03 quite a bit and chimpanzees and other
4:05 great apes can certainly do this they
4:06 can walk upright although they generally
4:08 don't do it for long periods of time and
4:10 it's really because these animals are
4:12 well adapted for living in the trees and
4:15 so the way that their bodies function
4:17 and are formed to enable them to climb
4:19 makes it really difficult for them to
4:21 walk upright for long periods of
4:24 time
4:28 bonobos bonobos and chimpanzees look
4:31 very similar bonobos are slightly
4:32 smaller than chimpanzees and that led to
4:35 them being called Pym chimpanzees for a
4:37 long time but we know them as a
4:38 different species they're not just a
4:39 different type of chimpanzee they're
4:41 their own species but they are smaller
4:43 they also are born with a very dark face
4:45 whereas chimpanzees are born with a
4:47 light face that darkens over time and
4:49 those are kind of some of the the big
4:51 physical
4:54 differences bonovas have the most
4:56 restrictive range of any of the great
4:58 apes so they are found in only one
5:00 country Democratic Republic of the Congo
5:02 and they are found south of the Congo
5:04 River whereas chimpanzees and gorillas
5:06 are found north of the Congo River so
5:08 they actually are the only great ape
5:10 that lives in this particular part of
5:15 Congo what's really different about the
5:18 way that Koba is portrayed in Planet of
5:20 the Apes is it's very unbo like where we
5:23 see more striking differences is in
5:25 their behavior so he's a very aggressive
5:28 individual and in actuality bonobos are
5:30 really considered kind of pacifists they
5:32 are very playful they keep their playful
5:35 personality as adults they're known for
5:37 being very calm using sex rather than
5:40 aggression to settle fights really it's
5:42 chimpanzees in the wild that have the
5:44 more aggressive personality that you see
5:46 being portrayed in
5:49 kobba in the movie you see that Koba and
5:52 Caesar are split over their relationship
5:55 with humans in the wild we don't see
5:57 that there is animosity towards humans
6:01 generally it's the opposite where humans
6:03 are aggressive and attack or kill great
6:06 apes human
6:10 work human work what we do see though is
6:14 animosity within a species bonobos are
6:16 actually the only species where that
6:18 hasn't been observed actually when
6:19 groups come together they can be quite
6:21 friendly now what has happened in some
6:23 places particularly with chimpanzees is
6:26 that where human communities and
6:28 chimpanzee communities have come close
6:30 together so for example where humans
6:32 have deforested areas and chimpanzees
6:34 are left in small little isolated Forest
6:36 patches we have seen chimpanzees attack
6:39 humans and I think it's not an animosity
6:41 thing that they're actually viewing
6:43 humans as a source of prey and actually
6:45 just recently there was the first ever
6:48 recorded sighting of chimpanzees killing
6:51 a gorilla even after 50 plus years of
6:54 watching these animals in the wild it
6:55 was just observed for the first time
6:57 earlier this year
7:01 gorillas in the movie the gorillas are
7:03 really portrayed as the guards and I
7:06 think a lot of that is just a result of
7:07 their sheer size gorillas are amazing
7:11 they are the world's largest primate
7:13 they start at 4 lbs at Birth and males
7:16 can grow to be 400
7:21 lb there's four types of gorillas in
7:23 total and only one of those four are
7:26 found in zoos and in West Africa there
7:28 are two subspecies there's the Cross
7:31 River gorilla and then there's the
7:32 Western lowland gorilla and that's the
7:34 type of gorilla you can see in a zoo
7:35 there's a big area in the central part
7:37 of Africa where you don't find gorillas
7:39 at all that's where you find the bonobos
7:41 in Eastern Africa there are another two
7:43 species they are the mountain gorillas
7:45 and they're the gorillas that were made
7:46 famous by Dian fossy and are featured in
7:48 the movies Gorillas in the Mist and then
7:50 there's one called The Growers gorillas
7:52 and like bonobos they are only found in
7:55 the Democratic Republic of Congo
8:00 male and female gorillas are the same
8:01 exact size until about the age of eight
8:04 and at that point female gorillas are
8:05 considered adults and they sort of grow
8:07 a lot more slowly until about 12 when
8:09 they're full size male gorillas however
8:11 at that age are really they enter a
8:13 phase called the blackback phase so it's
8:15 kind of an adolescence and they really
8:16 shoot up in size and they continue
8:19 growing until about the age of 15 and at
8:21 that point they've gained their adult
8:23 characteristic a male gorilla is called
8:24 a Silverback it's just a process of
8:26 maturation so every male gorilla becomes
8:29 a silver back so just like human males
8:31 at a certain age get broader chest and
8:33 facial hair male gorillas around the
8:35 same age will again get that broad chest
8:37 a big head and the hair on the back will
8:39 turn silver and that's a sign that
8:41 they've reached adulthood and male
8:42 gorillas are really they are in charge
8:44 of their family so they decide when it's
8:46 time to eat when it's time to rest where
8:48 the family's going to sleep at night
8:50 they really are the Protectors of their
8:52 family unit and in the wild the males
8:55 really do take on this guard role I mean
8:58 all of that size and strength the
9:00 purpose of it is to defend their family
9:02 and to defend their family from other
9:03 groups of gorillas and this is
9:05 particularly evident with young gorillas
9:07 if they lose their moms and in that
9:09 situation they basically will be taken
9:11 under the wing of the dominant
9:13 Silverback even if it's not their kid
9:15 they will still take on responsibility
9:17 for allowing this infant to feed near
9:19 them so they can still have access to
9:21 good food the infants will often travel
9:23 near them and they'll even sleep with
9:25 them at night in their nest so I do
9:27 think this portrayal of male gorillas as
9:29 protectors imp Planet of the Apes really
9:31 gets at the core of what male gorillas
9:33 are in their own
9:37 families a couple of cool things about
9:39 gorillas when Diane fossy started her
9:42 pioneering work to study them 54 years
9:44 ago the common perception of gorillas
9:46 Were King Kong Ferocious Beast and when
9:49 she studied them and got to know them as
9:50 individuals and got to see their family
9:52 social structure she really changed the
9:54 narrative and so gorillas are actually
9:56 known as now as gentle Giants gorillas
9:58 are stri vegetarian so don't ever let
10:01 anyone tell you you can't get big and
10:03 strong just by eating your
10:07 vegetables gorillas are always black but
10:10 they do have a lot of color variation
10:13 particularly in the western species you
10:15 will get a lot of red particularly
10:16 around their heads and then they have
10:18 that silver back but I've never seen a
10:20 red gorilla in the films there's a white
10:22 gorilla named winter but we have not
10:25 observed any white gorillas in the wild
10:27 there was one in a zoo in Spain his name
10:30 was snowflake but white gorillas would
10:33 really not camouflage well in the dark
10:35 Forest environments of
10:38 Africa
10:41 orangutans Maurice in the movie is seen
10:44 as a very wise and smart ape and
10:46 certainly orangutans are incredibly
10:48 intelligent there is a joke that said if
10:50 you were to give a screwdriver to a
10:52 chimpanzee they break it if you gave it
10:54 to a gorilla they'd throw it away and if
10:55 you gave it to an orangutan they would
10:57 sort of squirrel it away and then it
10:59 some point use it to dismantle you know
11:01 whatever was in the room so they are
11:03 known for their incredible
11:08 intelligence orangutans are the only
11:11 great ape found in Asia so they live on
11:14 the islands of Borneo and somatra
11:16 orangutans are divided into three
11:18 species up until recently actually two
11:20 were only recognized the bornean and the
11:22 Sumatran and then in
11:24 2017 the tapanuli orangutan was also
11:27 described
11:32 they are a beautiful red color and have
11:35 incredibly long arms that really is
11:38 because of the particular Niche that
11:40 they fill so they are the most
11:42 frugivorous of all the Apes meaning they
11:44 rely a lot on fruit this part of their
11:46 diet makes it hard for them to live in
11:48 social groups so you can imagine if
11:50 you're a 200 lb male orangutan and you
11:53 need to find enough food to eat and you
11:55 come across a food tree if there's 12
11:57 other orangutans in that fruit tree that
11:59 fruit is going to be gone pretty quickly
12:01 and as a result they spend a lot of time
12:03 high up in the trees and so these long
12:06 arms enable them to kind of move from
12:08 Branch to branch and span across these
12:10 Treetops as they move through the forest
12:12 looking for food so orangutans actually
12:14 are primarily solitary whereas the
12:16 African great apes live in social groups
12:19 orangutans spend most of their lives as
12:21 solitary individuals and the males in
12:23 particular had this really unique look
12:25 so they have what are called flanges
12:28 around their face so these cheek pads
12:30 around their face it's one of their
12:31 secondary sexual characteristics and
12:33 they emit these very loud long
12:37 calls because these animals are solitary
12:39 so they need to communicate with other
12:41 Rutan over a much larger distance than
12:43 say a gorilla might who lives in a
12:45 close-knit social
12:48 family
12:49 humans a lot of people don't realize but
12:52 humans are also considered a great ape
12:54 so they're kind of the fifth type of
12:55 great ape in the movie we see complex
12:58 relationship between humans and great
13:00 apes and I think the same exists you
13:03 know in real life unfortunately for
13:05 great apes humans are really their
13:07 greatest threat whether it be through
13:09 habitat destruction through poaching
13:11 climate change we are unfortunately
13:14 pushing great AP populations to the
13:16 brink of Extinction but I think one of
13:18 the reasons that these movies resonate
13:20 so much with people is because we see so
13:23 much of ourselves in great apes they
13:25 share the same emotions as us they share
13:28 the same kinds of relationships that we
13:31 do and so my hope is when people see
13:33 movies like Planet of the Apes they
13:35 recognize kind of the common Humanity
13:37 that we have with our closest relatives
13:40 and that makes people interested in
13:42 preserving them in the wild that these
13:43 aren't going to be just animals that we
13:45 might see in a zoo or in a movie but
13:48 that these animals will retain their
13:50 incredible cultures and social lives in
13:53 the wild as well AP home to me one of
13:57 the best things about the planet of the
13:58 ape movies is that no actual Apes were
14:01 in these movies the fact that these are
14:03 all computer generated Apes with humans
14:05 behind them to me is incredible and the
14:07 technology is amazing and I was lucky
14:10 enough to get to work with Andy Circus
14:12 when he was actually preparing to be
14:13 Kong in the King Kong movies and I think
14:16 that his portrayal of Apes is truly
14:19 amazing I mean he really captures just
14:22 the subtleties of the way they move and
14:24 interact great apes are so much like us
14:28 like like us they have friends and
14:30 enemies like us they have emotions like
14:34 us they have really rich complex social
14:36 lives and so I think you know my career
14:39 as a primatologist and a conservationist
14:41 I hope that we can cohabitate together
14:45 maybe a little bit better than the Apes
14:47 did in the Planet of the Apes trilogy
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