They don't call them the Great Apes for nothing. A PBS special reminds us that the shaggier primates have a few more lights on upstairs than perhaps some of our friends and acquaintances. Here's the review I did for Bloomberg: Genius' Apes Carve Spears, Grab Floating Peanut: Dave Shiflett Review by Dave Shiflett Feb. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Apes are different from you and me - - though not by much. That's the lesson of ``Ape Genius,'' a fascinating PBS special that strongly suggests some monkeys could almost qualify for Mensa membership. According to the show, which airs tonight at 8 p.m. New York time, chimps, orangutans, gorillas and bonobos can solve complex problems, make and use tools, and display emotional depth that may draw tears from some viewers. In one of many filmed experiments featured in the hourlong special, a female chimp is presented with a long transparent tube containing a peanut. The peanut is at the bottom of the tube, which is fastened securely to her cage. She sizes up the problem, cogitates a moment, takes a gulp of water and spits into the tube. A few repetitions later and the peanut has risen within reach. Would you have figured that out? The program includes interviews with experts from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Duke University, Kyoto University and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, but the shaggy bipeds are the real stars. One chimp shows a remarkable knowledge of language. At the request of her handler, who wears a mask to conceal telltale expressions, the chimp hands over some sticks, fetches a ball and picks up a set of keys and puts them in a refrigerator. This extra-furry ape recognizes 3,000 English words, more than enough to be a reality-show star. Making Weapons Anthropologist Jane Goodall, looking waiflike here in archived footage, long ago documented that chimps use tools to harvest termites. Jill Pruetz, an Iowa State University anthropologist interviewed for the program, shows that some apes are more heavily armed. In Senegal, chimps are filmed making spears from broken branches. They sharpen the tips with their teeth before pursuing their prey: bush babies, small nocturnal primates that hide out in hollowed-out trees during the day. When the hunters detect dinner, they thrust their spears with arms that are up to five times stronger than their human counterparts. While we are spared the actual impaling, we see the resulting feast -- the treetop version of munching a porterhouse. Dead Baby Goodall also documented the strong emotional life of chimps, painfully updated in the program's most wrenching segment: film of a mother's devastation over the death of a young one. She is unable to part with the body for weeks, carrying it around on her back and stroking its lifeless forehead. There are, of course, significant differences between apes and humans. The former have less impulse control and often avoid cooperating with one another, while humans appear to have an innate expectation to be taught and a powerful desire to teach. As a result we learn more quickly and pass much more information between generations. Still, chimps have a pretty good life. In one scene we see them sitting on tree branches munching fruit, then lowering themselves into a small pool of water and chattering away with obvious delight. Sounds idyllic to me: no mortgages, no taxes, no Britney.
