#1988 - James Reed

Episode Timestamps

• 00:00:00

  Starting time

  • A chimp empire is the subject of the documentary, chronicling their lives.
  • The documentary crew was able to spend 400 days with the chimps thanks to a previous scientific project.
  • The crew had to go through a process of habituation to be accepted into the chimp group.
• 00:03:11

  Starting time

  • Chimps are known to hunt and eat monkeys, which can be disturbing to witness.
  • The hunting consists of cooperation and teamwork among the chimps, who are powerful and organized hunters.
  • The documentary crew witnessed the hunting of monkeys quite frequently.
• 00:11:07

  The Hunt for Chimpanzees

  • Monkeys are valuable from a nutritional point of view
  • Hunting seems to provide some sort of cooperative function
  • Sharing meat after they've hunted a monkey is a political business
• 00:13:04

  Competition Among Chimps

  • There's only so much meat, so it's a competition among chimps to get a share
  • The strongest alliances are being served in this situation
  • The tension between males becomes complicated when a female gets a share
• 00:16:29

  Silent Coordination among Chimps

  • Chimps patrol their borders in silence
  • There's some level of communication going on without vocalization
  • Ellington and Rollins are examples of chimps who seem to attract this behavior
• 00:23:37

  Communication and Understanding Among Chimpanzees :

  • Scientists are still unsure of how patrols among chimps are instigated and known among the chimps involved, with a communication gap from a scientific point of view
  • Speculation includes the possibility of pheromones or telepathy
  • There seems to be some sort of signaling through eye movement, although not supported by scientific data
• 00:25:37

  Unusual Characteristics Among Chimpanzees :

  • The chimp Pinsir had completely white sclera, a very human-like characteristic
  • This characteristic is not officially found among chimpanzees, where it is supposed to have brown sclera
  • The difference in color between iris and sclera is an important part of human cooperation and communication
  • The impact of this characteristic among chimps, particularly with regards to their silent communication, is not fully understood by scientists
• 00:33:27

  Connection between White Sclera and Cooperative Behaviors:

  • Pinsir appeared to be more involved in cooperative behaviors than other chimps without the white sclera characteristic
  • Pinsir also had a disproportionate number of offspring despite being a low-ranking male
  • Scientists have not yet conducted specific studies to fully understand any correlation between the presence of white sclera and specific roles or behaviors among chimps.
• 00:35:15

  Alpha Male Strategies

  • The focus is on two chimps, one successful in reproduction and the other not, despite being a higher ranking male.
  • The successful male, Pinsir, spent a lot of time with females even when they were not in a reproductive state. His approach was different from the other males who concentrated on their male relationships and only pursued females when they were in estrous.
  • The fascination around Pinsir's behavior and characteristics is discussed.
• 00:38:54

  Chimpanzee Similarities and Differences

  • The complexity and individual variation of chimps are discussed, making them an interesting subject to study.
  • Similarities and differences with humans are highlighted and make them a unique animal to observe.
  • Personal experiences with different chimp characters are discussed.
• 00:44:36

  Filming and Editing Challenges

  • The challenges of filming and editing a complex project with 400 days of footage are discussed.
  • The success of the project in capturing an enormous amount of footage is acknowledged.
• 00:47:01

  Challenges of Condensing 18 Months of Footage into a Four-Part Series.

  • Filming and telling the story of the 18-month expedition was a huge challenge.
  • The team had to be disciplined about what they filmed and what they didn't use.
  • They had to film a lot more than they needed to allow for range of characters and storylines.
  • The editing process was a sculpting process that involved gradually cutting down the footage to the most interesting and relevant moments.
  • The process required six shoots and a huge amount of footage to be carefully curated.
• 00:54:54

  Enormous Task of Organizing and Logging 100 Hours of Footage.

  • The team had to do a huge amount of work before the expedition to plan and test equipment and cameras.
  • They had to log every single shot with information about which chimps were in the shot, what they were doing, and conditions at the time.
  • They built a library of footage using a special software that allowed them to search for footage based on specific criteria.
  • The pre-editing process was crucial in reducing 100 hours of footage to the most relevant and representative scenes, so the creative process of editing could begin.
  • The editing process took about 20 weeks per episode, with four different editors working on each episode.
• 01:00:36

  Challenges of creating a successful documentary series for Netflix

  • Creating a show that truly captures the story in a dramatic way takes a lot of work
  • Editing process is the director's happy place and where the overall feel of the series comes to life
  • The team initially tried to make an episode without narration but realized it needed an extra layer of interpretation for a broader audience
  • Mahershala Ali's narration helped add a conceptual layer to the show
• 01:10:23

  What makes Ngogo unique

  • Ngogo has a unique level of access and data due to long-term scientific projects
  • There are many chimpanzee study sites, but Ngogo has a ton of chimps and is surrounded by forest on all sides
  • The unique terrain impacts chimpanzee behavior and group dynamics
  • Different chimpanzee sites have associated unique behaviors or culture, such as the use of spears to hunt in Fongoli.
• 00:00:00

  Starting time

  • Ngogo chimpanzees in Uganda use spears to hunt bush babies
  • Tool use is a common behavior for chimpanzees in Africa
  • Ngogo chimpanzees are not big tool users, possibly because of a rich environment with plenty of fruit
  • Population size and cooperative behavior are defining qualities of the Ngogo group
• 00:09:40

  Starting time

  • Chimpanzees in the Ivory Coast, Gombe, and Fongoli use tools like sticks and rocks to hunt monkeys
  • Ngogo chimpanzees hunt monkeys for food and potentially to compete for fruit resources
  • The impact of chimpanzees on monkey populations is significant in their territory
• 01:26:27

  Observing chimpanzees in their habitat

  • Chimpanzees in the forest world are very aware of their surroundings.
  • They're accepting of human presence but not interested in them.
  • There are strict rules at Ngogo on interacting with chimpanzees due to human infections.
  • Chimpanzees spend most of their day doing enjoyable activities like grooming each other.
• 01:44:10

  Intense and aggressive moments during patrol

  • Chimpanzee patrol is a violent and aggressive moment.
  • It's wild to see their coordination and movement through the forest.
  • No concern of being attacked by the chimps during these moments.
• 01:40:37

  Chimps in the Wild

  • Chimpanzees in the wild can quickly change positions due to their aggressive behavior towards each other.
  • Their behavior towards humans is different from those in captivity or kept as pets.
  • Witnessing chimpanzee violence can be difficult to watch, especially chimp on chimp violence.
• 01:46:23

  Chimp Violence

  • Witnessing chimp violence is difficult for humans to watch.
  • It's hard to intervene when observing natural chimp behavior.
  • Film project committed to observing, but not interfering.
• 01:49:07

  Ethical Dilemma

  • Ethically, it's not right to interfere with natural chimp behavior.
  • Observing the Ngogo chimps is a rare, unique opportunity for humans.
  • Filmmakers are committed to observing without interfering.
• 01:54:59

  Potential for Season 2.

  • The commissioner, Sarah Edelson, has discussed the potential for a second season of the show.
  • Waiting to see the impact of the first season before making a decision.
  • The NgoGo story continues and there is potential for more interesting stories.
• 01:57:40

  Alpha Reign.

  • Alphas generally have a six to seven year tenure at NgoGo.
  • Chimpanzees adopt different strategies to stay in power longer, such as political relationships and allies.
  • Leaders that manage their relationships better with their allies tend to have an easier time staying in power.
• 02:03:17

  Overthrown Alphas.

  • Outgoing alphas at NgoGo usually gets beaten up badly in the overthrow, but never lethal.
  • When an alpha is overthrown, they assume a lesser position in the hierarchy.
  • Alphas tend to retire from competing in the higher levels of the dominance hierarchy.
• 02:08:59

  Adolescent females leaving their social group

  • A female chimpanzee leaving their familiar group and traveling to a new one can be nerve-wracking and anxious.
  • When they transfer to a new group, they stay there and become part of a new "family." The split in the GoGo group may make transferring easier as some chimpanzees will transfer from Central Group to Western Group, where they already know some of them.
• 02:11:16

  Cause of the split

  • The size of the group and whether it could maintain unity was questioned due to the sheer number of chimpanzees in the N'Gogo group.
  • Small subgroups that felt less association with each other eventually led to divisions.
  • Big fights contributed to the growing divide, and scientists declared them to be properly separate groups in 2018.