The Lawrence Jacobsen Library
DVD 016 2001 Planet of life: Apes to man

DVD 016 2001 Planet of life: Apes to man
Films for the Humanities and Sciences [DVD; col., sd.; 53 min.: 2001]

This program looks at the evolution of primates and hominids, from the appearance of the first apes to the arrival of the modern human. Traveling to key archaeological digs in Africa, paleontologists try to solve the mystery of humankind’s exact origin. In Kenya, scientists examine fossil remains of proconsul, the earliest known ape. The great ecological change around 5 million years ago that gave rise to the savanna is shown to be the catalyst of hominid evolution. In Ethiopia, bones from 3-million-year-old "Lucy" furnish an example of one of the first mammals to walk upright. Specialists show how bipedalism conferred many advantages on hominids, including the development of speech.