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Last Great Ape, The
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Program Overview
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Note: This program contains scenes of sex among bonobos. Please
preview it to determine its appropriateness for your classroom.
Deep in the Congo lives a little-studied group of apes called the
bonobos. Like the more-familiar chimpanzees, bonobos are among
humans' closest relatives. But unlike chimps, known for their
violent behavior, bonobos are far more peaceful and resolve conflict
in an unusual way: by having sex. Much like humans, bonobos have sex
not just to procreate, but also for pleasure and politics. The
discovery of these gentle apes has fascinated scientists and led
them to question our origins and the roots of human nature.
But in 1997, just as research on these elusive apes was underway,
civil war broke out in the Congo, and researchers were forced to
evacuate immediately. Now NOVA returns to the battleground with
scientists who are worried that war and the bush meat industry may
have decimated the bonobo population. Instead, what they find gives
them hope for the future of the species.
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