Origin Stories

03.07.17

Follow the Leader?

Origin Stories
Every animal that lives in groups has to make decisions as a group. Even a seemingly simple decision like "where should we go for dinner?" can be complicated to negotiate.
02.25.16

Origin Stories: Face Mites

Origin Stories
Listen as we explore the lives of face mites, and learn how studying these close personal friends of ours may help us answer new questions about our own evolution.
10.27.15

Origin Stories Episode 06: Being a Nice Animal

Origin Stories
For our sixth episode we have the first in a collection of stories looking at human behavior and how it’s been shaped by evolution.  Dorothy Cheney and Robert Seyfarth share their research on the baboon mind. Dorothy Cheney and Robert Seyfarth study the communication and social behavior of wild non-human primates. They received their PhDs from Cambridge University, and since 1985 they have held positions… more »
08.05.15

Origin Stories Episode 04: How to Document a Society

Origin Stories
This episode of Origin Stories is about what it takes to document the daily lives of chimpanzees, what we’ve learned, and how to handle all the data that’s been collected during the longest running study of any animal in the wild. In the 55 years since Louis Leakey sent Jane Goodall to the Gombe forest to study chimpanzees, we’ve learned a lot about the lives and behavior of these wonderful… more »