BBC Four HD

Your Inner Fish: An Evolution Story

Neil Shubin

David Dugan

Tom Cook

Michael Rosenfeld

Your Inner Fish: An Evolution Story: Episode 3: Your Inner Monkey

Documentaries

Factual: Science & Nature: Nature & Environment

Your Inner Monkey

Episode 3

Episode 3: Your Inner Monkey

BBC Four - Your Inner Fish: An Evolution Story, Your Inner Monkey

How our primate and hominid progenitors passed on the legacy of a path to the human brain.

Tracking our hands, feet, colour vision, spine and upright gait to our primate and hominid progenitors, who also passed on the legacy of a path to the human brain.

It took more than 350 million years for the human body to take shape. Anatomist Neil Shubin reveals how our bodies are the legacy of ancient fish, reptiles and primates, the ancestors you never knew were in your family tree. Our bodies carry the anatomical legacy of animals that lived hundreds of millions of years ago.

Journeying to the Arctic, South Africa and Ethiopia, Neil uncovers an astonishing story spanning hundreds of millions of years, a tale full of strange facts and remarkable insights. Using fossils, embryos and genes, each of the three episodes focuses on a key transitional moment in the evolution of the human body - moving from the sea to land, relocating from the shore to living in trees, and coming down from the trees to walk upright on two legs. 

In the final episode, Neil tracks our hands, feet, colour vision, spine and upright gait to our primate and hominid progenitors, who also passed on perhaps the most important legacy of all - a path to the human brain.

BBC Four

Knowledge, arts, music and culture from the UK and the world.

BBC Four reflects arts, music and culture with an ambitious range of intellectually and culturally enriching programmes, taking an expert and in-depth approach to its subjects.

Neil Shubin reveals how our bodies are the legacy of ancient fish, reptiles and primates.

Anatomist Neil Shubin reveals how our bodies are the legacy of ancient fish, reptiles and primates.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Your Inner Fish: An Evolution Story

Episode 3: Your Inner Monkey

Contributors

Genres

Formats

Series

BBC Four HD

About BBC Four