Picture of a chimp's head, sleepingVideo Guide for Human Origins and Prehistory

The Great Apes: The Ultimate Guide

1996 Discovery Channel, color Running Time: 46 minutes

Summary

Are we all monkeys' uncles? Perhaps not, but the great apes are our nearest evolutionary relatives. We feel a certain affinity with the human-sized gorilla and the tool-using chimpanzee, even the high-flying orangutan. Apes, after all, have become television celebrities, movie stars, and astronauts. In this program you'll see apes demonstrate highly advanced intelligence, including the ability to understand what others are thinking. You'll also learn why the survival of these primates may be in jeopardy.

Questions

These study questions address important topics introduced by this program and are listed more or less in the sequence in which they are covered in the video.
 
  1. What were the distinguishing characteristics of the earliest primates?
  2. Why was binocular vision an evolutionary advantage for primates adapting to new ways of life?
  3. How is the skeleton of an ape adapted for its specific lifestyle
  4. How do orangutans adapt their body build to their specific mode of locomotion
  5. Why do large apes live high in the canopy of the forest?
  6. What is the purpose of the Orangutan Language Project at the National Zoo in Washington DC, USA?
  7. What characteristics set the great apes apart from other primates? What are the anatomical differences between monkeys and apes?
  8. What type of evidence suggests that the great apes may have once been adapted to life outside the forest?
  9. How have comparative data been used to make connections between the great apes and the way we see ourselves as humans.

Some Terms

primate

Definition - Any of an order (Primates) of mammals comprising humans, apes, monkeys, and related forms (such as lemurs and tarsiers).
Context - Apes are primates, an ancient and varied group of mammals.

mammal

Definition - Any of a class (Mammalia) of warm-blooded higher vertebrates (such as placentals, marsupials, or monotremes) that nourish their young with milk secreted by mammary glands, have skin usually more or less covered with hair, and include humans.
Context - Many mammals have eyes on the sides of their head that face outwards.

evolution

Definition - The theory that groups of organisms change with the passage of time, mainly as a result of natural selection.
Context - Early in their evolution, primates gave up this defensive arrangement and the eye sockets rotated forward.

syntax

Definition - The way in which linguistic elements (as words) are put together to form constituents (as phrases or clauses).
Context - Apes are capable of using abstract symbols and syntax to communicate.

fossilized

Definition - Preserved from a past geologic age.
Context - The strange fossilized remains of great ape relatives show that some were adapted to life outside the forest.

adapt

Definition - To make fit (as for a specific or new use or situation) often by modification.
Context - The strange fossilized remains of great ape relatives show that some were adapted to life outside the forest.

DNA

Definition - Any of various nucleic acids that are usually the molecular basis of heredity, are localized especially in cell nuclei, and are constructed of a double helix.
Context - Our DNA differs from chimps, gorillas, and orangutans by between 1.6% and 3.6%

Adapted from The Discovery Channel Teacher's Resources pages on the video.

 

Back to main course page