Original subtitles

You and I belong to an extraordinary family.

A family of hundreds of bizarre

colourful

and characterful animals

You are a clever monkey.

Who lead fascinating and dramatic lives

all over the world.

We, that is monkeys, lemurs and apes

are all primates.

And I want to introduce you

to this amazing animal family.

He's licking my eyeball!

To meet some relatives

you never even knew you had.

We primates have many things in common

and one key feature we share is that we're all pretty smart.

Here in Thailand this band of long-tailed macaques show just how clever monkeys can be.

These monkeys have used their intelligence

to conquer the city.

Swapping the wilds of the forest for the urban jungle.

It's a world full of new opportunities and new challenges.

And the monkeys have some ingenious adaptations to their new home.

These macaques have a great life. They live in an ancient temple where they're safe

and every year the humans throw a party for them

and it's the biggest monkey party in the world!

The monkeys are quick to take advantage of the feast.

I don't think I've seen anything quite like this in my whole life.

Good isn't it?

For any primate, this is a feast of epic proportions.

There's something like three tonnes of fruit and vegetables

up for grabs here in a single day.

It's just quite unique.

They experiment with anything that could be food.

I've never seen such a mess ever.

It's like a teenage sleepover!

They've learned to do things their wild cousins would never need to do,

but their unusual behaviour doesn't end there.

These monkeys also like to steal hair.

And they use it as dental floss.

This is quite a unique experience for me.

I've got a macaque on my shoulder flossing its teeth

you couldn't make this up.

There's a couple of theories as to why they floss their teeth.

One is that it keeps their teeth clean and they get extra bits of food

but I think it's just because if you've got something stuck in your teeth

it's really irritating.

It takes great initiative to work out how to floss

and some get the hang of it quicker than others.

Ow! They're pulling my hair out

I mean I'll have no hair left at this rate!

A very bizarre diet has forced these clever monkeys to think outside the box.

For centuries it was thought

that we humans were superior to all other beings

and that animals were driven purely by the necessity to survive.

But by being able to solve problems

these monkeys show that they can be two steps ahead all the time.

In fact we're discovering more and more examples

of extraordinary primate intelligence.

So just how clever are they?

Well, one sign of real intelligence

is being prepared to take risks.

And seize opportunities.

And on the coast of East Africa

is a monkey that does both.

They're colourful, cunning

and occasionally criminal.

Zanzibar Red Colobus monkeys

usually hang out in the forests

and mangroves along the shore.

They love the leaves of mango and Indian almond trees.

Though they can't eat too much as

the leaves contain high levels of toxins.

These trees were brought to the island

hundreds of years ago by spice traders

and planted in the villages where they settled.

But that's not the only attraction the village has to offer.

The monkeys are launching a daring raid.

It's not the local cuisine that's tempted the monkeys.

It's charcoal.

But why steal such a strange delicacy?

Charcoal absorbs poison.

It's the perfect antidote

to the toxins in the leaves

that the monkeys love to eat.

Just like the temple macaques

the colobus have spotted an opportunity

to solve one of life's little problems.

Problem solving is a clear sign of intelligence

and there are plenty of problems to solve.

There's one problem most primates face

and it's not anything to do with food

it's more to do with the hot humid environments in which they live.

We all hate mosquitoes

and even monkeys aren't immune to them.

For these white-faced capuchins in Costa Rica

there is no escape.

Mosquitoes drive them mad

and a single bite could carry disease.

But the capuchins have discovered an ingenious way to protect themselves.

They lather themselves in the sticky sap of a guapinol tree.

It's nature's own answer to insect repellent.

Usually capuchins are fairly quarrelsome

and would never get so close

but in the writhing mass they are able to cover all the hard to reach spots.

The monkeys are finally able to get a bit of well earned rest.

They worked out that the tree sap keeps the mosquitos away.

Understanding cause and effect

is another sign of an agile mind.

It means that you can manipulate the world around you to your own benefit.

Here in coastal Thailand live some

rather special monkeys

who have become masters of this art.

These long-tailed macaques have embraced the beach lifestyle.

Although it looks idyllic

food is hard to come by on these islands.

But twice a day, for a few hours

a shoreline littered with a seafood buffet

is revealed.

Great food

if you can get into it.

I'm amazed this is happening so close to me.

Tool use in apes is very common of course

and we are the prime tool users

but in monkeys this is very unusual indeed.

The trick to opening these oysters

is having the right tool for the job

and the beach is covered in a ready made tool kit.

Whatever they use they use it very dexterously.

I haven't seen one of them hit their thumb yet!

Different shellfish require not only different tools

but also different techniques.

Sometimes hammering is most efficient.

Other times two hands are better than one.

It all looks quite easy.

Here's a cockle.

There's a nice anvil stone here

and now I'm going to just...

Well actually I was going to eat that!

Just 60 years ago we believed that humans

were the only primates to use tools.

Now we know that other primates have

been using tools for thousands of years.

It's that leap between taking a shellfish and banging it on a rock

to putting it on the surface of the rock

and then hitting it with a stone.

That's the real intellectual leap, if you like

and these macaques have made that leap

and they are now reaping the rewards.

Although some need a little more practice than others.

Using tools means they have regular access

to a high quality diet

and this means they can spend less time foraging

and more time relaxing.

Using tools gets these monkeys a great meal.

But there's one bizarre example of manipulation

which science is still struggling to understand.

No creature in their right mind

would go near a poisonous giant millipede.

But these lemurs in Madagascar

can't get enough of them.

They're not trying to eat them.

They're just trying to irritate them!

The millipedes secrete a hideous cocktail

of chemicals in self-defence.

What the lemurs do next is even more of a mystery.

They rub the poison all over their fur.

No one knows why they do this.

It could be medicinal, an insect repellent

or even a perfume to attract a mate.

Although one thing is for certain

this toxic chemical goo makes the lemurs, well

slightly intoxicated.

We still have a lot to learn about our primate cousins.

And the ability to learn is another key foundation for intelligence.

Primates have some of the longest childhoods

in the animal kingdom

allowing the time they need

to try things out.

And the first thing they need to know

is what is and what's not good to eat.

Take this seed pod for instance.

The pulp is edible but the seeds are not

and for any young primate, finding out which is which

can be a very steep learning curve indeed.

I hope I got that the right way round.

These young mountain gorillas have to learn

how to eat over 60 different foods.

They learn by watching the adults

and with a large extended family

they have lots of role models.

Not everything is easy to eat.

Gallium in particular is a bit tricky.

It sticks to everything, just like Velcro

including your throat.

But by wrapping up the sticky bits on the inside

it slips down easily.

It's an important lesson.

But these youngsters are having problems focusing.

And now they're paying the price.

Sometimes in life you just have to learn the hard way.

Orangutans have the longest childhood of all non-human primates

spending up to 10 years with just one teacher.

Their mother.

This bond between mother and child is crucial.

They have a vast amount to learn.

A mind map of hundreds of different foods

and a calendar of when they fruit.

Even how to build an umbrella.

But what if your mother is taken away from you?

Here in Sumatra, in the middle

of the rainforest, is a school.

For the pupils here, a good education

can mean the difference between life

and death.

All the students are orphaned orangutans.

Their mothers were killed by hunters or loggers

and they were sold as pets.

It may seem odd to have orangutans in a caged environment

but this is an essential first step on them

being re-introduced to the wild.

When their mums were Killed

they lost the library of information. The wealth of expertise

on which they would have depended.

Without their mums they won't survive.

We have to show them how to survive, how to find food

how to move in the forest. It seems bizarre but this is essential

for a species which is on the very brink of extinction.

This is Dora. She's four years old and is learning

how to be an orangutan from scratch.

Right, it's off to school for you my girl.

You've got to pay attention in class

watch what people are doing.

Just like the gorillas, one of the most

important lessons is what and how to eat.

A wild orangutan will mainly eat fruits but at times

when there aren't any fruits they need to fall back on

food like termites, which is very rich in protein.

And if you've never seen a termite nest before

you have to be shown what to do. So you break it open

and you suck the termites out and that's a very rich source of food.

Perfect! She did it exactly right.

You, Dora, are a model pupil.

Now this one here is a very nasty spiny climbing vine

called rattan and it's pretty horrible, but you can eat the bit

in the middle at the base and if you show them how to do it. Look at this.

Look at that.

She's watching, she's paying attention, she's doing exactly

what's she's shown and that

is really important for her future.

As well as learning what to eat

these orphans need to get used to living

and moving in the trees.

Their teachers constantly check their progress.

They're very naughty sometimes. - Like teenagers.

They'll also get marked on their foraging abilities.

Oh he's eating the fruit. Oh great.

Remembering everything they have learnt in class

shows just how clever they are.

Intelligence is based on memories; it's the brain's filing system.

But for some, like Julius here, it takes a little longer to get the hang of things.

Oh Julius, what are you doing?

You are supposed to be up a tree.

You're supposed to be up a tree, you silly boy! C'mere.

No, no. You're very nice, but listen. Stop!

Stop!

He's licking my eyeball!

Look, this is graduate school. You're supposed to be going up there!

Go on, you're supposed to be going up the tree. Go on.

Well, I've never had my eyeball sucked by an orangutan before.

Go on. Up you go.

I think this one is going to need a few more hours in class

before he's ready to go.

It's hard to believe that not that long ago this orangutan was

in somebody's front room caged as a pet being fed on the ground

and now, after a bit of training, they're up in the trees

where they belong, being real wild orangutans.

While Julius and his friends are learning how to be wild again

on the neighbouring island of Borneo is an orangutan

who lives near people and learns from them too.

This is Siswi.

Although she learnt the essentials from her mother

she has also picked up a few tips from humans.

That's fantastic. That is art.

I've seen worse hanging in the Tate.

Above all else, Siswi is renowned for her creative thinking.

She's always watching.

Always learning.

Even going incognito occasionally.

And she's been observing me

closely all morning going in and out of the supplies shed.

Siswi has never been shown what to do

she's taken her own initiative to imitate those around her.

She's been able to reconstruct my actions from her

own perspective.

And understands the results of her actions.

That is incredible.

She knows exactly what she's doing.

Very impressive. What would be more impressive

is if she closed the door after her.

Orangutans like Siswi are able to solve

their own problems by watching others.

This kind of imitation requires a high degree of abstract thought

and it's something that very few species have been able to achieve.

The ability to learn is fundamental to an intelligent mind.

Chimpanzees all over Africa are expert problem solvers

and pass this knowledge on to their young.

But when faced with the same conundrum

they don't always come up with the same solution.

To show you exactly what I mean

we've set up an experiment.

With two communities of

chimpanzees living in forests in Uganda, 180 kilometres apart.

One in Kibale, the other in Budongo.

In Kibale lives Tuke

an inquisitive teenager.

In Budongo is Klauce

a boisterous youngster.

Both these chimps absolutely love honey

so we've set them a challenge.

Now what we've done is underneath this old piece of honeycomb

we've drilled a hole in a log and we've filled it up with

liquid honey and that's something that sweet toothed

chimpanzees just won't be able to resist.

The challenge for both is how to extract the honey.

Both communities of chimpanzees live in the same type of environment.

And both have been left a log filled with honey.

Just out of their fingers' reach.

Tuke immediately picks up a stick.

And uses it as a makeshift honey dipper.

Whereas Klauce takes a different approach.

He makes a sponge out of leaves.

But these aren't solutions they've just come up with.

For Tuke using a stick is a tried and tested method

that everyone in his family uses.

And for Klauce leaf sponging is something he

learnt from the rest of his family too.

Two different ways to get the same result.

In both sites once one chimp worked out a solution

they all learnt how to do it the same way.

These family traditions are the beginnings of what we know as culture.

Think about the way people eat.

In the West we use a fork and knife, in the East we use chopsticks.

Different means to the same end.

It's inherently smart to be able to pass on information through generations.

But intelligence, as some humans see it, isn't just about being smart.

Some scientists believe it's about being able to have emotion and express it.

But to do this, you have to have at least a little sense of who you are.

When I look in the mirror sometimes I get a shock, but I always know it's me.

This may seem obvious to you, but there's actually only a handful of species in the world

that are capable of recognising themselves.

Recognising yourself is by no means a given in the primate world.

Some don't even bother with their reflection.

Some think it's a rival.

And for the odd one, a mirror is just a souvenir.

Knowing that you're looking at your own reflection means you're self aware.

It implies you're conscious of who you are.

So, let's see how the chimps do

and I think I've found some willing volunteers.

Look at the mirror. Come on there.

Look. Who's that?

Right one at a time please. Right.

These chimpanzees live a sanctuary in East Africa

and this is the first time they've seen their own reflection.

No, there's nothing behind it. She's a little bit confused.

It's as if she thinks there's a chimpanzee behind the mirror. It's only me.

To recognise your own reflection

takes a large amount of intellect

and chimpanzees have been scientifically proven to have a sense of self.

It's great. She really is looking at herself very intently indeed.

She's just looking at every detail of her face.

That's you.

Well there are always problems with experiments and Sara has now taken the mirror off me

and is now half way up a tree with the mirror.

Come on.

Sara come on. Mirror.

A sense of self is something that for decades we thought

was uniquely human, the foundation of emotional intelligence.

Now we know we're not alone.

Take these rhesus macaques in India, for instance.

It is 40 degrees in the shade.

And they're desperately trying to escape from the heat.

The humans have a huge pool to cool off in.

But the monkeys aren't welcome.

It might not be as luxurious

But they have found themselves a cattle trough.

However these monkeys are not just interested

in keeping cool.

They are adrenaline junkies.

They're not doing this simply to cool down.

They're dive-bombing, it appears

purely for the fun of it.

This implies a fascinating side to their intelligence.

Having fun suggests individuality

personality and a whole range of faculties

that go beyond basic instinct.

And means you may even be capable of feelings.

Many primates seem to experience emotions that we would all recognise

such as love and despair.

Like this mother for her sick child.

And also grief, for the death of a loved one.

This mother carried her dead baby for 5 days.

This young orphaned bonobo is all alone, with no mother to protect him.

He's been bitten on the hand by a member of the troop

they have injured him and cast him aside.

But another youngster appears to feel his pain

and tries to comfort him.

Empathy, understanding the feelings of others

is one of the most complex emotions of all.

And if you can understand what someone else might be thinking or feeling

you might be able to play tricks on them.

Here, by the magnificent Iguazu falls in Argentina

live some of the smartest monkeys on the planet.

Capuchins have the largest relative brain size

of all monkeys.

And some are using it to their advantage.

Like all monkeys, they live by a strict pecking order.

At the bottom of the ladder is the lowest ranking male.

He always has to give way to the alpha male.

But being at the bottom of the social ladder

doesn't necessarily mean the low ranker is stupid.

We all know that monkeys can't resist a banana

and I can't resist using one of these!

When food is plentiful everyone's happy

but when food's in short supply some monkeys resort to sneakiness

to get their share.

By raising this platform laden with bananas into the trees

we can see how some monkeys can be more than a little cunning.

I can hear them coming, right on cue.

Here comes the big male.

There!

The first on the platform is the alpha male.

He always gets first dibs on the treats.

He is stuffing his face with bananas.

There's nothing the other monkeys can do

except watch and wait.

And for the low ranking male, who is last in line

the anticipation is unbearable.

After the alpha male has grabbed the best bits

he lets a few other high rankers join the feast.

Although he still makes sure they know who's boss.

The lowly male has to wait

but he's losing patience.

He has a trick up his sleeve.

The monkeys on the platform scatter.

The low ranker has sounded the alarm for a predator.

But there is no predator.

It seems he faked it to get to the food.

By knowing how the rest of the troop would react

the underdog has managed to outwit the boss.

Whether or not he has learned to do this

or is intentionally deceiving the other monkeys

is impossible to tell.

Either way, by crying wolf

he's managed to get his hands on some food.

He can't do it too often though

but on this occasion his ruse has worked

and he's conned his way into a free lunch.

Primates are clearly very smart.

They are not only able to solve basic problems

but they can operate on a higher level

expressing emotions and deceiving others.

Things we once considered uniquely human.

But just how like us can a non-human primate be

when all the pressures of surviving in the wild are taken away?

Well I'm on my way to meet the most remarkable non human primate on the planet

and I'm not going to find a single species

but a single individual, who has led a remarkable life

growing up between two worlds

and he's in the most unlikely of places here in lowa

in America.

This is Kanzi.

He's a 33 year old bonobo

who has lived his entire life

in a bicultural world

learning from both from humans and other bonobos.

Kanzi has had the time to develop some skills

that are completely unique in the primate world.

And to find out just what he's capable of

I'm going to invite him on a picnic.

My assistant here is Teco, Kanzi's son

and together we are going to give Kanzi a call.

Right.

He's not answering.

It's always the same when you try and

ring a bonobo they're always busy.

He's hung up on me.

You know you go to all this trouble to ring a bonobo

and they hang up on you half way through the conversation.

Hello!

That's your daddy, look, there's your daddy.

Teco and I are going to ask Kanzi

what he wants in his picnic bag.

I'm going to show you what's in the fridge, ok?

And you can tell me what you want.

Ok I'm opening the fridge, Kanzi, now.

Whoa, look at this. What would you like?

Orange.

You'd like oranges? Oranges

Ok I've got you some Oranges.

Grapes. - Grapes yeah.

Kanzi can understand English language

but can't talk back, so he has learnt how to use a lexigram.

It might seem like a random bunch of symbols

but each represents a word

and Kanzi understands over 500 of them.

Tomato.

Tomatoes, ok I'm going to put some tomatoes in the backpack.

Cherries.

Where are the cherries, oh cherries.

This is probably one of the most surreal things I've ever done

talking to a bonobo

who's asking me to put fruit in the backpack.

Celery. - Right, celery, ok.

I got you apples.

Ok, well that's it; I think we've got everything

and now we're set for a picnic.

Come on, Teco.

It's absolutely captivating, you can't not

draw comparisons between what you're seeing here

and our own lives.

At just 3 years old Teco is learning how the world works

and also he's learning from his dad

and he's just learnt not to hit his dad in the face quite so hard.

In front of our very eyes

they are breaking down the final barriers

that separate us and them.

I've watched lots of wild animals and primates in the wild

but I've never seen one that can do things that are so human like

I mean things that I would do

and it really gives you a feeling of just how close we are.

The more we learn about our primate cousins

the more we realise just how much of 'them'

is in 'us', and 'us' is in 'them'.

And we met so many relatives

from all round the world

I feel really for the first time part of the family.

And it truly is an extraordinary family.

Our flexibility

complex relationships and agile brains

mean that together we are

perhaps the most successful family on earth.

We should be proud to be a primate.