BBC Learnings · Section 7

Do chimps have the same emotions as us

Having your photograph appear on the cover of a magazine makes you famous around the world.

Level: C1 · 97 sentences

Transcript

  1. Having your photograph appear on the cover
  2. of a magazine makes you famous around the world.
  3. But imagine if that photo showed you
  4. hugging and playing with wild chimpanzees.
  5. That's exactly what happened to Jane Goodall,
  6. who shot to fame in 1965 when she appeared
  7. on the cover of National Geographic magazine.
  8. Jane introduced the world to the social and emotional lives
  9. of the wild chimpanzees of Gombe in eastern Tanzania.
  10. Jane spent years living among families of wild chimpanzees,
  11. Her observations changed the way we view our closest animal relatives
  12. and made us think about what it means to be human.
  13. In this programme we'll be hearing
  14. from the iconic environmentalist Jane Goodall.
  15. She reflects on how attitudes have changed as science has uncovered
  16. the deep connections between humans and the great apes,
  17. large primates including chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans,
  18. who are closely related to humans.
  19. and of course we'll be learning
  20. some related vocabulary along the way.
  21. As well as Dr Goodall, the National Geographic photographs
  22. also made the chimpanzees of Gombe famous.
  23. People around the world became interested
  24. in the lives of a family of chimps
  25. living in a remote corner of Africa.
  26. When Gombe's alpha female died in 1972,
  27. she was so well loved that she had an obituary in the Times newspaper.
  28. But what was her name? That's our quiz question.
  29. Which chimpanzee's obituary appeared in The Times?
  30. Was it...
  31. Well, 1972 is a bit before my time, Rob.
  32. I wasn't even born then, but I think it's B – Flo.
  33. OK, Sam. We'll find that later if you were right.
  34. Now, when Jane first visited Tanzania in the 1960s,
  35. Most scientists believe the only animals
  36. capable of making and using tools were humans.
  37. But what Jane witnessed about the behaviour of one chimpanzee,
  38. who she named Greybeard, turned this idea on its head.
  39. Here, she recalls that famous day to Jim Al-Khalili
  40. for the podcast of BBC Radio 4's Discovery programme, The Life Scientific.
  41. I could see this black hand picking grass stems
  42. and pushing them down into the termite mound
  43. and pulling them out with termites clinging on with their jaws.
  44. And the following day I saw
  45. him pick a leafy twig and strip the leaves.
  46. So not only was he using objects as tools,
  47. but modifying those objects to make tools.
  48. Jane observed the chimpanzee Greybeard finding
  49. small wooden branches called twigs and modifying them.
  50. changing them slightly in order to improve them.
  51. By stripping away the leaves from twigs
  52. and using them to collect ants and termites to eat,
  53. Greybeard had made a tool – an instrument or simple piece of equipment,
  54. for example a knife or hammer,
  55. that you hold in your hands
  56. and use for a particular job.
  57. Previously it was believed that animals
  58. were incapable of making tools on their own.
  59. What Jane saw was proof of the intelligence of wild animals.
  60. Jane Goodall's studies convinced her that chimps
  61. experience the same range of emotions as humans,
  62. as she explains here to BBC Radio 4's The Life Scientific.
  63. I wasn't surprised that chimps had these emotions.
  64. It was fascinating to realise how many of their gestures are like ours,
  65. so you can watch them without knowing anything about them.
  66. And when they greet with a kiss and embrace,
  67. they pat one another in reassurance,
  68. they hold hands, they seek physical contact to alleviate nervousness or stress.
  69. You know, it's so like us.
  70. Holding hands, embracing and kissing were some of the chimpanzees' gestures,
  71. movements made with hands, arms or head to express ideas and feelings.
  72. In the same way as humans,
  73. the chimpanzees would pat each other – touch someone gently
  74. and repeatedly with their hand held flat.
  75. Much of their behaviour was human-like.
  76. Just as I would hug a friend to reassure them,
  77. the chimps used physical contact to alleviate stress –
  78. make pain or problems less intense or severe.
  79. In fact, chimps are so alike us that sometimes
  80. they even get their name in the newspaper!
  81. Yes, Sam, you mean the quiz question I asked you earlier.
  82. Which chimpanzee had their obituary published in The Times?
  83. And I guessed it was B, Flo.
  84. And that's absolutely right. Well done, Sam.
  85. Give yourself a pat on the back.
  86. Aha, OK. In this programme, we've been hearing
  87. about legendary zoologist and activist Jane Goodall
  88. and her experiences living among great apes.
  89. primates like chimpanzees who are a human's closest animal relatives.
  90. Jane witnessed the chimpanzees of Gombe modify, or slightly alter,
  91. objects like leaves and twigs to make tools,
  92. hand-held instruments used for a particular job.
  93. Many of the chimpanzees' gestures, body movements made to communicate
  94. and express emotions like kissing and patting,
  95. touching someone gently and repeatedly with a flat hand, were almost human.
  96. And just like us, the chimps sought physical contact to alleviate
  97. or reduce the severity of nervousness and stress.