John Mitani, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at the University of Michigan, is a primatologist who studies the behavior of apes — our closest living biological relatives. For the past 28 years his research has involved a field investigation of the Ngogo chimpanzees in Uganda’s Kibale National Park. The Ngogo chimpanzees have been featured in several wildlife documentaries, including Netflix’s Emmy-nominated "Chimp Empire" series (2023), which provides novel insights into the behavioral similarities and differences between chimpanzees and humans.

In this presentation, Mitani shares more about the intriguing Ngogo chimpanzees and how results from this research can help us better understand human uniqueness and evolution.

Moderator: Briana Pobiner, paleoanthropologist and educator at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. 

This Zoom webinar aired February 15, 2024.

Learn more about the HOT Topics series and get info about upcoming webinars on the museum's Events for Adults page: https://naturalhistory.si.edu/events/...

Visit the Smithsonian's Human Origins Program website: https://humanorigins.si.edu/