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Animals: Watching Us Watching Them Watching Each Other

For Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival 2014, Rana Mitter explores the links between the behaviour of humans and animals. With guests Andrew Whiten, Katie Slocombe and Alex Bentley.

50 years ago Jane Goodall got into trouble for suggesting chimps displayed personalities and moods. " Foul! " cried scientists, "that's Anthropomorphism!" Today, the fact that animals recognise individuals within their group, choose whom to copy, and whom to learn from - and that their populations have distinct social traditions and behaviours - suggests that culture is not an exclusively human attribute.

Rana Mitter talks to the primatologist, Andrew Whiten, Professor of Evolutionary and Development Psychology at St Andrews, to Dr Katie Slocombe of York University and to the social anthropologist, Professor Alex Bentley of Bristol University, about chimps and imitation, culture and evolution - from the deep past to our digital present.

Recorded in front of an audience at 大象传媒 Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival of Ideas at Sage Gateshead in 2014.

All the discussions and essays from the Free Thinking festival are available as Radio 3 Arts and Ideas downloads.

Available now

45 minutes

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Rana Mitter
Interviewed Guest Andrew Whiten
Interviewed Guest Katie Slocombe
Interviewed Guest Alex Bentley
Producer Jacqueline Smith

Broadcasts

  • Thu 13 Nov 2014 22:00
  • Wed 19 Aug 2015 22:00

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