Food and sex: with all the benefits that come with being the alpha male, it's no surprise that male apes work so hard to get to the top. But it's not just our chimpanzee cousins who are in a constant struggle for power. From the world leader's power walk and the CEO's dominance posture, to our subtle everyday power struggles with strangers, this episode explores how those similar instincts remain, and how – just like in the jungle – so many human interactions can be a battle to become king of the swingers.
The desire to find a mate drives a lot of ape behavior, and despite millions of years of evolution, we're no exception. We'll explore the different mating strategies of our ape cousins, but with all that promiscuity we can't be anything like them...can we?. To demonstrate, NGC carries out a series of social experiments designed to bring out the inner ape in unsuspecting humans and compare their interactions with that of primates.
Every wonder why so many people seek fame? Our desire to be popular comes from an instinctive need to be liked. In this episode, find out why primates and humans both need to be part of social groups. Primatology experts compare ape behavior to that of humans to see how chitchat can improve status, and why we're so good at deception. Hidden camera footage reveals our natural instinct to social climb, gossip and decieve.
