
#1988 - James Reed
NaN minutesEpisode #1988
James Reed is a filmmaker whose works include "My Octopus Teacher," "Rise of the Warrior Apes," and "Jago: A Life Underwater." His new documentary series "Chimp Empire" is streaming on Netflix now.
www.underdog-films.com
Episode Timestamps
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.
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.
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
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
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
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.