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The Life Scientific: Episode 124: Frans de Waal on chimpanzees

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Frans de Waal

Episode 124

Episode 124: Frans de Waal on chimpanzees

Frans de Waal on chimpanzees

BBC Radio 4 - The Life Scientific, Frans de Waal on chimpanzees

Frans de Waal tells Jim Al-Khalili why we should expect chimpanzees to be clever.

We share 99% of our DNA with the chimpanzee and the bonobo. And yet we're often surprised to learn that apes, like us, can be both kind and clever. Behavioural biologist and best-selling author, Frans de Waal has spent many years observing our closest living animal relatives. He pioneered studies of kindness and peace-making in primates, when other scientists were focussing on violence, greed and aggression. Empathy, he argues, has a long evolutionary history; and he is determined to undermine our arrogant assumptions of human superiority. Frans talks to Jim Al-Khalili about growing up on the Dutch polders, chimpanzee politics, and the extraordinary sex lives of the bonobos.

Producer: Anna Buckley.

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Professor Jim Al-Khalili talks to leading scientists about their life and work.

Professor Jim Al-Khalili talks to leading scientists about their life and work, finding out what inspires them and asking what their discoveries might do for us in the future.

Professor Jim Al-Khalili talks to leading scientists about their life and work, finding out what inspires and motivates them and asking what their discoveries might do for us in the future

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Episode 124: Frans de Waal on chimpanzees

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