Forgotten Apes | Dr. Susan Cheyne
Listen now
Description
An audio essay on human nature, followed by an interview with primatologist Dr. Susan Cheyne. Susan is the co-director of the Borneo Nature Foundation International and the Borneo River Initiative for Nature Conservation and Communities, she is the Vice Chair of the IUCN Section on Small Apes, and she is also a Senior Lecturer at Oxford Brookes; she has been studying gibbons for about 27 years. Our conversation is wide-ranging, but centers on gibbons. We discuss gibbon locomotion, life among gibbons, the nature and function of gibbon song, gibbon violence, monogamy, and infanticide (and lack thereof), and other subjects. Enjoy. Dr. Cheyne's research: http://www.susancheyne.com  IUCN Section on Small Apes: https://gibbons.asia/   Timestamps:  0:00 Are humans naturally monogamous? 17:27 Introducing today's subject and guest 20:25 Gibbon overview (interview starts) 31:57 Why do humans have twins? 34:02 A day in the life of a gibbon 38:57 Studying gibbons 40:37 Forgotten apes 44:06 Monogamy 1:09:27 Violence 1:11:34 Singing 1:17:49 Intelligence 1:23:28 Conservation   Sources relevant to the introduction:  Stewart-Williams & Thomas | "The Ape That Thought It Was a Peacock" | 2013 Fisher | "The Anatomy of Love" | 2016 Ryan & Jethá | "Sex at Dawn" | 2010 Kramer | Pew Research | 2020 Marlowe | Behavioural Processes | 2000 Chapais | Evolutionary Anthropology | 2013 Schacht & Kramer | Sec Behavioral and Evolutionary Ecology | 2019 Shankman | "The Mead–Freeman Controversy Continues" | 2018 (I'm not sure if this view is correct; once again, you can find academics on both sides of this.)
More Episodes
Published 10/07/24
A discussion with Marta Kowal on beautification and what predicts it. Marta Kowal (PhD) is a post-doctoral researcher at the IDN Being Human Lab, Institute of Psychology, University of Wrocław, Poland. Marta's academic background is in evolutionary psychology, and her research primarily focuses...
Published 10/07/24
A natural history of infidelity and a history of science on the topic. Listen and learn about the oldest known laws in history, fish that get pessismistic without their boyfriend, the costs of monogamy, the ovulatory shift hypothesis (and a conspiracy theory about it), the mate-switching vs....
Published 09/15/24