All language subtitles for The Human Animal Ep. 2 - The Hunting Ape

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Would you like to inspect the original subtitles? These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated: 1 00:00:03,600 --> 00:00:07,100 How did the human animal come to dominate all other life-forms 2 00:00:07,200 --> 00:00:08,300 on the planet Earth? 3 00:00:08,800 --> 00:00:14,000 What's the secret of our unparalleled success? 4 00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:20,400 Could it have something to do with the way in which during the course of 5 00:00:20,400 --> 00:00:21,300 our evolution, 6 00:00:21,500 --> 00:00:25,800 we radically changed our social behaviour. Becoming more cooperative 7 00:00:25,800 --> 00:00:28,100 as we faced daunting new challenges. 8 00:00:30,400 --> 00:00:37,100 In one important respect, we became unique among the primates. We became pack hunters. 9 00:00:46,300 --> 00:00:49,800 Indeed hunting became a human obsession, 10 00:00:49,900 --> 00:00:53,300 that went beyond mere feeding to become a whole new way of life. 11 00:00:53,300 --> 00:00:58,400 It was to transform us and make us, not the lion, 12 00:00:58,400 --> 00:00:59,800 the king of all the animals. 13 00:01:24,900 --> 00:01:25,900 For millions of years, 14 00:01:25,900 --> 00:01:28,100 our ancestors were hunter-gatherers. 15 00:01:28,300 --> 00:01:32,500 Now all that has changed. Now we gather everything. 16 00:01:32,500 --> 00:01:36,000 We still eat meat, but we no longer have to hunt it down. 17 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:36,900 Instead we encounter it 18 00:01:36,900 --> 00:01:40,200 neatly cleaned and packaged as we forage among the urban 19 00:01:40,200 --> 00:01:43,800 branches of our supermarkets, packing food from the shelves 20 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:48,000 Viewed as a pattern of human feeding behaviour, a trip to the 21 00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:51,300 supermarket is the remarkable end point of a long journey 22 00:01:51,300 --> 00:01:55,300 through evolutionary time. A journey that started in a primeval forest, 23 00:01:55,300 --> 00:01:58,400 and ended at a checkout counter. 24 00:01:58,600 --> 00:02:01,800 To me, it's a story of an arboreal ape which became a ground-dwelling predator, 25 00:02:01,800 --> 00:02:05,100 which in turn became a credit card customer. 26 00:02:12,200 --> 00:02:15,400 It was working at the zoo back in the 1960s that gave me 27 00:02:15,400 --> 00:02:18,500 my unusual approach to the subject of human behaviour. 28 00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:23,500 I'd started out my studies looking at fish, then birds 29 00:02:23,500 --> 00:02:25,600 then mammals and finally, chimpanzees. 30 00:02:25,800 --> 00:02:27,600 It was as though, without planning it, 31 00:02:27,900 --> 00:02:31,500 I was approaching the human animal by climbing up its family tree. 32 00:02:31,500 --> 00:02:36,100 This gave me a very different slant from people like 33 00:02:36,200 --> 00:02:40,000 psychologists or psychoanalysts, or anthropologists or sociologists. 34 00:02:41,500 --> 00:02:43,100 During my position here, 35 00:02:43,600 --> 00:02:47,500 I gave the human species an animal name, the naked ape. 36 00:02:47,500 --> 00:02:50,000 And I set about describing our behaviour in exactly the same 37 00:02:50,000 --> 00:02:52,700 way as I'd used when looking at all those other species 38 00:02:52,700 --> 00:02:54,100 in my earlier research. 39 00:02:55,200 --> 00:02:58,400 The more I studied chimpanzees, the more I realised just how 40 00:02:58,400 --> 00:02:59,600 intelligent they are. 41 00:03:00,300 --> 00:03:03,900 But despite their intelligence, wild chimpanzees have to spend 42 00:03:03,900 --> 00:03:05,400 most of their time feeding. 43 00:03:05,900 --> 00:03:09,300 This interminable food collecting is typical of animals 44 00:03:09,300 --> 00:03:13,800 that depend largely on a vegetable diet. Nutritionally inferior, 45 00:03:13,800 --> 00:03:17,000 to meat, a great deal of vegetation has to be eaten 46 00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:22,800 every day for survival. In the primeval forests, 47 00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:26,000 this feeding process has been going on for millions of years 48 00:03:26,300 --> 00:03:29,900 endlessly time-consuming and monotonously repetitive. 49 00:03:29,900 --> 00:03:33,000 And it's against this background that our own story begins. 50 00:03:36,800 --> 00:03:41,400 About 10 to 15 million years ago, the early apes from which 51 00:03:41,400 --> 00:03:46,100 we ourselves evolved must have looked rather like this. 52 00:03:46,100 --> 00:03:50,000 In this series, we've reconstructed and reanimated our earliest 53 00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:53,400 forbears as a reminder that humans did not in fact descend from 54 00:03:53,400 --> 00:03:56,600 chimpanzees, but from this common ancestor. 55 00:04:01,600 --> 00:04:05,400 It probably had a similar lifestyle to modern chimps with fruits, berries 56 00:04:05,400 --> 00:04:09,400 and nuts as its main source of food. And like them, it will 57 00:04:09,400 --> 00:04:12,200 occasionally have eaten a little animal food 58 00:04:12,200 --> 00:04:14,300 as a valuable addition to its diet. 59 00:04:21,390 --> 00:04:24,900 Although later this was to change, 60 00:04:24,900 --> 00:04:26,600 its original herbivorous lifestyle is one that's left 61 00:04:26,600 --> 00:04:28,700 its mark upon us even today. 62 00:04:35,200 --> 00:04:37,000 From our ancient primate ancestors 63 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:41,300 we've inherited a love of ripe fruits, berries and nuts. 64 00:04:41,300 --> 00:04:44,100 Food which they found in the treetops and which we still consume 65 00:04:44,100 --> 00:04:46,400 today in a hundred different forms. 66 00:04:47,400 --> 00:04:50,600 One of the key qualities of this kind of food is its sweet taste. 67 00:04:50,600 --> 00:04:54,000 And this has left us for the decidedly sweet tooth. 68 00:04:54,700 --> 00:04:57,300 In fact, we're so fond of sweet things, that we will search 69 00:04:57,300 --> 00:04:58,300 for them everywhere. 70 00:04:58,400 --> 00:05:03,000 Even at the risk of being stung by angry bees. In some tribal cultures 71 00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:06,800 the craving for honey is so strong that the tastes 72 00:05:06,800 --> 00:05:09,800 of as many as ten different types are distinguished by the 73 00:05:09,800 --> 00:05:11,200 expert honey seekers. 74 00:05:12,800 --> 00:05:15,600 And it's no accident that the very first alcoholic drink 75 00:05:15,600 --> 00:05:19,600 ever created by our species was mead. Made, of course from honey. 76 00:05:22,600 --> 00:05:25,400 Another continent, other insect. 77 00:05:25,900 --> 00:05:29,400 This type of ant collects honey in its abdomen which becomes 78 00:05:29,400 --> 00:05:32,800 massively swollen and distended, making it easy to catch. 79 00:05:34,400 --> 00:05:38,200 For these native australians, honey ants are a special delicacy, 80 00:05:38,200 --> 00:05:41,400 collected and savoured like small ripe fruits. 81 00:05:43,400 --> 00:05:45,800 Everywhere you look in the world you find evidence of this 82 00:05:45,800 --> 00:05:50,000 human devotion to sweetness, inherited from our primate ancestors. 83 00:05:50,400 --> 00:05:51,100 And nowhere 84 00:05:51,200 --> 00:05:54,700 is it stronger than among our children, as a simple experiment will show. 85 00:05:58,700 --> 00:06:03,800 Here, sweet foods are on the left, non-sweet foods on the right. 86 00:06:03,800 --> 00:06:05,400 When children are allowed to take anything 87 00:06:05,400 --> 00:06:08,900 they want, they fall on the sweet foods and ignore the others. 88 00:06:23,700 --> 00:06:26,400 And it's not only children who react like this. 89 00:06:28,900 --> 00:06:32,300 It's worth asking why, if eating sweet things is so natural, 90 00:06:32,600 --> 00:06:34,500 it should often be viewed as unhealthy. 91 00:06:34,800 --> 00:06:38,700 The answer is that in nature, nutritional value and palatability 92 00:06:38,700 --> 00:06:40,000 go hand in hand. 93 00:06:40,300 --> 00:06:43,200 Whereas in modern life, any food can be made attractive. 94 00:06:43,500 --> 00:06:47,500 Simply by artificially sweetening it. It's intriguing that 95 00:06:47,500 --> 00:06:50,200 whenever we feel like a small snack between meals, 96 00:06:50,500 --> 00:06:53,400 we usually choose something sweet as though in these casual moments, 97 00:06:53,400 --> 00:06:56,500 we're reverting to the primeval feeding behaviour 98 00:06:56,600 --> 00:06:57,600 of the forest. 99 00:07:01,300 --> 00:07:04,700 The fruit picking life in the treetops must have been comfortable 100 00:07:04,700 --> 00:07:08,100 and secure for our ancient ancestors. But then something happened. 101 00:07:08,100 --> 00:07:11,200 Perhaps there was a dramatic change in climate. 102 00:07:11,300 --> 00:07:14,600 Perhaps the forest suddenly shrank. We can't be sure. But whatever 103 00:07:14,600 --> 00:07:19,000 it was, it set our ancestors off in a search for a new habitat. 104 00:07:22,100 --> 00:07:25,600 They struck out into more open country away from the trees 105 00:07:25,600 --> 00:07:28,000 and began to explore this new environment. 106 00:07:28,200 --> 00:07:32,500 And as they did so, their diet began to change. The fruit-eating 107 00:07:32,500 --> 00:07:36,300 forest ape had to become a meat-eating plains ape. 108 00:07:38,600 --> 00:07:42,400 So the evolving human animal was to acquire a split personality. 109 00:07:42,500 --> 00:07:44,900 Part herbivore, and part carnivore. 110 00:07:55,600 --> 00:07:58,400 When our ancient ancestors turned to meat-eating, they faced 111 00:07:58,400 --> 00:08:01,500 a daunting new challenge, because now, they were in direct 112 00:08:01,500 --> 00:08:05,100 competition with the well-established carnivores and with 113 00:08:05,100 --> 00:08:09,300 his powerful bodies and strong jaws and teeth, animals like this. 114 00:08:15,300 --> 00:08:18,400 With our weaker jaws and smaller teeth, 115 00:08:18,500 --> 00:08:20,700 we had to find an alternative solution. 116 00:08:21,000 --> 00:08:25,300 We had to use brain instead of brawn. With our efficient hands 117 00:08:25,400 --> 00:08:26,800 we began to make weapons. 118 00:08:27,100 --> 00:08:36,400 Wooden spears to kill our prey. 119 00:08:36,400 --> 00:08:39,700 In our early days the simple act of accurate throwing must have been one of 120 00:08:39,700 --> 00:08:44,100 the most essential of all human skills. Precise aiming became 121 00:08:44,100 --> 00:08:47,500 nothing less than a matter of human survival. 122 00:08:54,500 --> 00:08:57,900 And we soon found that we were at our most efficient when we acted together 123 00:08:58,100 --> 00:09:02,600 as a hunting pack. Mutual aid on the hunt became another 124 00:09:02,600 --> 00:09:05,600 essential feature of our emerging species. 125 00:09:06,500 --> 00:09:10,800 Selfish, self feeding herbivore had to become a helpful social carnivore. 126 00:09:10,800 --> 00:09:16,100 Old primate competition had to be tempered by new 127 00:09:16,100 --> 00:09:17,600 human cooperation. 128 00:09:21,100 --> 00:09:24,300 In this way, we were able to turn our attention to bigger 129 00:09:24,300 --> 00:09:28,500 and bigger prey, making our hunts increasingly efficient 130 00:09:28,500 --> 00:09:32,300 and giving us more and more spare time, during which our early 131 00:09:32,300 --> 00:09:35,400 technologies could develop and prosper. 132 00:09:38,700 --> 00:09:41,700 Our problems didn't end when the prey 133 00:09:41,700 --> 00:09:45,600 was finally caught and killed. The meat was too tough for our small jaws. 134 00:09:46,000 --> 00:09:49,800 Our answer was to attack it not with our teeth but with sharp implements. 135 00:09:51,800 --> 00:09:53,900 About 3 million years ago 136 00:09:53,900 --> 00:09:57,700 we invented the flint knife to slice the meat up into chewable pieces. 137 00:09:57,700 --> 00:10:01,000 And then with the discovery of fire about a million 138 00:10:01,000 --> 00:10:01,600 years ago, 139 00:10:02,100 --> 00:10:05,700 we were at last able to enter the epoch of the human chef. 140 00:10:06,900 --> 00:10:09,700 We were able to prepare our meals instead of just bolting 141 00:10:09,700 --> 00:10:10,400 them down. 142 00:10:10,900 --> 00:10:14,200 We could cook and tenderize and savour the flavor by eating 143 00:10:14,200 --> 00:10:19,000 them hot, as if fresh from the kill. The hyena may have stronger jaws, 144 00:10:19,000 --> 00:10:23,400 but we had better techniques. Sliced and cooked, our meat 145 00:10:23,400 --> 00:10:28,100 became as easy to consume as a fruit or a berry. 146 00:10:28,100 --> 00:10:30,300 Instead of adapting our teeth to our food, 147 00:10:30,300 --> 00:10:32,700 we adapted the food to our teeth. 148 00:10:39,200 --> 00:10:43,700 The very idea of mealtimes is linked to a carnivorous lifestyle. 149 00:10:44,200 --> 00:10:48,000 Herbivores go munching monotonously hour after hour. 150 00:10:48,000 --> 00:10:50,000 The carnivores don't go for bulk. 151 00:10:50,100 --> 00:10:51,500 They go for quality. 152 00:10:52,000 --> 00:10:55,300 They only need to eat occasionally, and when they do, they binge 153 00:10:56,200 --> 00:10:57,300 and they eat together. 154 00:10:57,900 --> 00:11:01,200 We humans too like to settle down to big meals together. 155 00:11:01,500 --> 00:11:03,800 Our meal times are social events. 156 00:11:06,400 --> 00:11:09,400 Significantly, on the rare occasions when our relatives the 157 00:11:09,400 --> 00:11:12,900 chimpanzees kill an animal and eat its flesh, their social 158 00:11:12,900 --> 00:11:16,500 behaviour changes. Instead of feeding independently of one another, 159 00:11:16,500 --> 00:11:20,100 as they do when eating fruit, they feast together 160 00:11:20,100 --> 00:11:24,400 as a group and share out the spoils. Watching these scenes, 161 00:11:24,400 --> 00:11:27,400 it's easy to imagine the way in which our ancient ancestors 162 00:11:27,600 --> 00:11:31,300 began on their long road towards a carnivorous diet. 163 00:11:34,900 --> 00:11:39,400 When carnivores kill a large prey, there's enough for all. 164 00:11:39,400 --> 00:11:40,400 this isn't altruistic. 165 00:11:40,400 --> 00:11:45,400 It's simply that there's so much to eat all at once. 166 00:11:45,400 --> 00:11:49,600 And for us, food sharing has become fundamental 167 00:11:49,600 --> 00:11:53,900 to our social way of life. When we take small sweet snacks, we're happy to do 168 00:11:53,900 --> 00:11:58,200 so alone at anytime, anywhere, but when we feast on meat, 169 00:11:58,200 --> 00:12:01,600 we tend to gather together at a set time and at a set place. 170 00:12:03,600 --> 00:12:08,300 We sit down as a social group like lions around a kill. 171 00:12:08,300 --> 00:12:12,200 The feast becomes a friendly event, binding us together as a group 172 00:12:12,200 --> 00:12:16,100 as we fill our bellies. 173 00:12:17,100 --> 00:12:20,600 Everywhere. you look around the world you find the same kind of human 174 00:12:20,600 --> 00:12:25,100 feeding patterns. The menu may vary, but the events are remarkably similar. 175 00:12:35,100 --> 00:12:39,600 So powerful is this carnivorous urge to share food, 176 00:12:39,600 --> 00:12:42,200 that occasionally, when we do have to dine alone, 177 00:12:42,500 --> 00:12:47,500 we feel strangely uncomfortable. The solitary diner exudes 178 00:12:47,500 --> 00:12:52,100 the body language of unease. Eating sweets alone in public 179 00:12:52,100 --> 00:12:55,900 is pleasant enough, but eating a full meal alone in public is not. 180 00:12:55,900 --> 00:12:59,300 Ancient habits die hard. 181 00:13:05,200 --> 00:13:08,800 The social aspect of feeding is taken to an extreme at the 182 00:13:08,800 --> 00:13:12,500 typical cocktail party. Here, people drink when they're 183 00:13:12,500 --> 00:13:16,700 not thirsty and eat when they're not hungry. Significantly, most of the food objects 184 00:13:16,700 --> 00:13:19,700 on offer are savoury or meaty rather than sweet. 185 00:13:19,700 --> 00:13:24,500 The food may only be a token, but it retains the carnivorous 186 00:13:24,500 --> 00:13:28,000 character that's in keeping with the sociability of the occasion. 187 00:13:31,800 --> 00:13:35,400 Here the feeding behaviour itself has become perfunctory. 188 00:13:35,800 --> 00:13:39,300 The social element of feasting has become so important that 189 00:13:39,300 --> 00:13:42,300 the feast itself is reduced to a mere accessory. 190 00:13:47,900 --> 00:13:51,700 When we evolved from fruit-picking primates into meat-eating carnivores, 191 00:13:51,700 --> 00:13:55,400 we gained the huge advantage of being able to 192 00:13:55,400 --> 00:13:59,500 consume almost any living thing. By varying our diet. 193 00:13:59,500 --> 00:14:03,900 We could spread out into almost every habitat on earth. 194 00:14:03,900 --> 00:14:07,600 The Maasai of East africa survive largely on a diet of blood 195 00:14:07,600 --> 00:14:11,700 and milk, both taken from their carefully tended cattle. 196 00:14:11,700 --> 00:14:15,200 When the cattle are bled and bled but not killed, the blood is collected 197 00:14:15,200 --> 00:14:19,900 in long gourd. Milk is then mixed with the blood and stirred to 198 00:14:19,900 --> 00:14:23,100 coagulate it, producing a thick sticky liquid. 199 00:14:27,900 --> 00:14:31,200 Some of it clings to the stirring sticks and is eaten almost 200 00:14:31,200 --> 00:14:32,900 as a solid food. 201 00:14:33,200 --> 00:14:36,700 This is a favourite treat for the young children of the tribe. 202 00:14:45,700 --> 00:14:47,500 The rest is poured into drinking vessels. 203 00:14:48,900 --> 00:14:52,400 The product of this process provides an extremely high protein diet 204 00:14:52,400 --> 00:14:54,900 without any loss of livestock. 205 00:14:58,000 --> 00:15:01,300 Biologically, this could be described as a predator of cattle, 206 00:15:01,400 --> 00:15:05,500 becoming parasitic on them. A highly efficient solution to life 207 00:15:05,500 --> 00:15:07,400 in this particular environment. 208 00:15:08,600 --> 00:15:11,900 We may find the idea of drinking blood in this way repulsive, 209 00:15:12,200 --> 00:15:15,200 but the Maasai undoubtedly feel the same way about some of 210 00:15:15,200 --> 00:15:16,300 our feeding habits. 211 00:15:16,800 --> 00:15:20,500 Every culture has its own food preferences and food taboos, 212 00:15:20,600 --> 00:15:22,500 developed over many years. 213 00:15:24,800 --> 00:15:28,000 These caterpillars are another valuable source of protein. 214 00:15:28,100 --> 00:15:28,800 Weight for weight, 215 00:15:28,800 --> 00:15:31,800 they contain more protein than a sirloin steak. 216 00:15:31,900 --> 00:15:36,400 Even if they lack what one might call barbecue appeal. 217 00:15:39,400 --> 00:15:40,600 For these South Africans, 218 00:15:40,600 --> 00:15:44,000 they also provide important phosphates, minerals and vitamins. 219 00:15:44,100 --> 00:15:48,400 In fact, insects are an ideal source of food, much favoured by 220 00:15:48,400 --> 00:15:53,500 tribal peoples all over the world. Our modern preference for 221 00:15:53,700 --> 00:15:56,800 attacking insect pests with chemicals rather than with our teeth, 222 00:15:56,800 --> 00:15:59,000 is highly irrational. 223 00:16:07,300 --> 00:16:10,300 Some cultures prefer to keep animals out of their diet altogether. 224 00:16:15,300 --> 00:16:19,000 The Toda tribes people of Southern India used to 225 00:16:19,000 --> 00:16:22,300 slaughter their domestic stock, but now refuse to eat meat 226 00:16:22,300 --> 00:16:23,500 on religious grounds. 227 00:16:24,800 --> 00:16:28,100 Here, they're consuming a mixture of rice, cane sugar and 228 00:16:28,100 --> 00:16:32,400 salt wrapped in edible leaves. But closer scrutiny reveals 229 00:16:32,400 --> 00:16:35,800 that they're also adding buffalo milk and honey to the mixture. 230 00:16:40,400 --> 00:16:43,900 Despite the poor nutritional value of their main staple food, 231 00:16:44,200 --> 00:16:47,500 the regular addition of the milk and honey ensures that they 232 00:16:47,500 --> 00:16:51,600 remain fit and strong. A fact which they're proud to demonstrate 233 00:16:51,900 --> 00:16:53,200 with feats of strength. 234 00:16:59,600 --> 00:17:02,300 One of the strangest of all human feeding patterns is this. 235 00:17:02,300 --> 00:17:07,590 Earth eating. Some clays taken from special sources 236 00:17:07,700 --> 00:17:11,800 are rich in essential minerals. In certain parts of Ghana 237 00:17:11,900 --> 00:17:14,400 they're collected and moulded into egg shapes. 238 00:17:15,090 --> 00:17:18,400 This is the ultimate exploitation of the environment. 239 00:17:18,400 --> 00:17:22,400 Devouring the earth on which we stand. But these clays, when chemically analysed, 240 00:17:22,400 --> 00:17:26,090 were revealed to contain calcium, magnesium, potassium, 241 00:17:26,400 --> 00:17:31,300 copper, zinc and iron. Remarkably similar to the mineral supplements 242 00:17:31,300 --> 00:17:33,400 recommended in Western society. 243 00:17:34,700 --> 00:17:38,600 The never ending quest for food variety sometimes leads to danger. 244 00:17:38,600 --> 00:17:42,900 The Japanese delicacy called fugu, a kind of puffer fish, 245 00:17:42,900 --> 00:17:47,500 although much prized by gourmets, contains lethal toxins. 246 00:17:48,000 --> 00:17:51,500 If its toxic parts are not removed during gutting, they cause 247 00:17:51,500 --> 00:17:56,400 death within a few hours. 200 Fugu diners die each year! 248 00:17:59,800 --> 00:18:02,900 Clearly the human animal is the world's greatest omnivore. 249 00:18:03,000 --> 00:18:05,500 Ready somewhere to eat almost anything. 250 00:18:05,800 --> 00:18:08,800 And for many people it's not just a matter of eating anything, 251 00:18:08,800 --> 00:18:12,800 but eating everything. To see this in action, one need look 252 00:18:12,800 --> 00:18:16,000 no further than the table of a French family about to tuck 253 00:18:16,000 --> 00:18:17,800 in to a celebratory dinner. 254 00:18:19,700 --> 00:18:23,500 Here, variety of edible life-forms is the essence of the cuisine. 255 00:18:23,800 --> 00:18:31,400 To start with cephalopods, in this case squid, then amphibians 256 00:18:31,400 --> 00:18:33,800 in the form of amputated frogs legs. 257 00:18:39,100 --> 00:18:46,900 Then marine molluscs, some mussels. Then reptiles, as turtle soup, 258 00:18:46,900 --> 00:18:52,600 then gastropods, the inevitable snails. 259 00:18:55,600 --> 00:19:02,100 Then crustaceans, more seafood. Then echinoderm in the 260 00:19:02,100 --> 00:19:12,000 shape of sea urchins, followed by fish, birds, fermented fruit juice, 261 00:19:12,000 --> 00:19:14,100 mammals, 262 00:19:15,800 --> 00:19:23,700 with root vegetables, funghi, leaf vegetables, decomposing animal fat 263 00:19:23,700 --> 00:19:31,500 and finally fruits and nuts. Given sufficient affluence, 264 00:19:31,500 --> 00:19:34,800 we demonstrate with great panache the omnivory that has 265 00:19:34,800 --> 00:19:39,000 made us great as a species. 266 00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:47,300 No matter where we go, now we can solve the problem. 267 00:19:49,600 --> 00:19:53,400 Even in outer space we can find a way to nourish our bodies. 268 00:19:54,500 --> 00:19:57,300 We've come a long way from the forest trees 269 00:19:57,300 --> 00:20:00,900 of our remote ancestors and our passionately varied diets have taken us 270 00:20:00,900 --> 00:20:05,200 into every corner of the globe and beyond. But how did we 271 00:20:05,200 --> 00:20:09,500 start this amazing journey? What were the formative stages 272 00:20:09,500 --> 00:20:12,900 that were to take us soaring up and away from our animal relatives, 273 00:20:13,100 --> 00:20:15,800 leaving them gibbering in the branches while we conquered 274 00:20:15,800 --> 00:20:16,600 the stars? 275 00:20:30,100 --> 00:20:33,400 Perhaps re-examining our evolutionary roots will help us 276 00:20:33,400 --> 00:20:34,500 to understand. 277 00:20:36,400 --> 00:20:39,700 This is where the human story began millions of years ago 278 00:20:40,000 --> 00:20:44,300 in the heart of Africa. But how it began remains something 279 00:20:44,300 --> 00:20:45,000 of a mystery. 280 00:20:45,700 --> 00:20:48,500 There's a gap in the fossil record when we can only guess 281 00:20:48,500 --> 00:20:53,500 what was going on. The gap in our knowledge lasts from roughly 282 00:20:53,500 --> 00:20:55,800 4 million to 7 million years ago. 283 00:20:56,700 --> 00:20:59,700 We know that apes went into it, and ape men came out of it. 284 00:20:59,700 --> 00:21:01,400 But that's all we do know. 285 00:21:02,500 --> 00:21:04,400 Oh, and the ape men, of course when they came out of we 286 00:21:04,400 --> 00:21:07,200 know what happened to them. There aren't any missing links 287 00:21:07,200 --> 00:21:08,300 in the popular sense. 288 00:21:08,600 --> 00:21:11,800 We can trace our ancestry back for over three million years 289 00:21:12,100 --> 00:21:15,100 and we can see how those ape men turned into modern men. 290 00:21:15,900 --> 00:21:18,200 But back in that very early formative stage, 291 00:21:18,300 --> 00:21:20,400 that's when the picture becomes vague. 292 00:21:21,300 --> 00:21:22,600 Why did we shed 293 00:21:22,600 --> 00:21:27,300 our coat of fur, stand up on our hind legs and start to talk? 294 00:21:31,200 --> 00:21:37,700 To understand why this took place, we need to discover where it took place. 295 00:21:41,900 --> 00:21:44,200 Perhaps it all happened here on the open Savannah. 296 00:21:44,800 --> 00:21:48,100 The traditional view, and it's only a guess, 297 00:21:48,100 --> 00:21:52,200 is that our ancient ancestors left the cover of the forests and moved 298 00:21:52,200 --> 00:21:55,700 out onto the open plains in pursuit of large prey animals. 299 00:21:56,800 --> 00:22:01,100 Once in open country, they had to face a hot, dry exposed environment. 300 00:22:01,100 --> 00:22:04,000 How did they adapt to it? 301 00:22:05,200 --> 00:22:08,200 Other animals that live in hot dry environments have evolved 302 00:22:08,200 --> 00:22:11,600 special survival mechanisms that reduce their water loss. 303 00:22:11,900 --> 00:22:15,600 Surprisingly, we have none of these. We have to drink more 304 00:22:15,600 --> 00:22:16,900 than any other land mammal. 305 00:22:17,200 --> 00:22:20,700 We sweat more than any other mammal, and we die quickly 306 00:22:20,700 --> 00:22:28,300 if we overheat. We have dilute urine and moist dung. 307 00:22:28,300 --> 00:22:32,000 These five qualities contrast strongly with the water economy 308 00:22:32,100 --> 00:22:34,400 of the typical Savannah living animals. 309 00:22:35,600 --> 00:22:39,200 The truth is that we're simply not well adapted to Savannah living. 310 00:22:40,700 --> 00:22:44,000 So what did we do when we left the protection of the undergrowth? 311 00:22:44,700 --> 00:22:48,000 The traditional view of how ape became ape man has recently 312 00:22:48,000 --> 00:22:49,200 been challenged. 313 00:22:51,600 --> 00:22:54,500 It's thought that there might have been a vital 314 00:22:54,500 --> 00:22:58,200 intermediate stage. Instead of coming out of the forest 315 00:22:58,200 --> 00:22:59,200 and straight onto the open grasslands, 316 00:22:59,200 --> 00:23:03,700 the idea is that our remote ancestors 317 00:23:03,700 --> 00:23:05,100 went instead to the water's edge. 318 00:23:05,100 --> 00:23:08,600 There, they went more and more into the water, becoming what you 319 00:23:08,600 --> 00:23:14,200 might almost call an aquatic ape. Newborn babies under careful supervision 320 00:23:14,200 --> 00:23:18,300 can swim without any training. Placed in a prone 321 00:23:18,300 --> 00:23:19,700 position in warm water, 322 00:23:19,700 --> 00:23:23,600 they show no panic, keep their eyes wide open and automatically 323 00:23:23,600 --> 00:23:24,600 hold their breath. 324 00:23:26,700 --> 00:23:30,000 Champion breath holders can hold their breath for up to three 325 00:23:30,000 --> 00:23:33,700 and a half minutes underwater. This and the swimming ability 326 00:23:33,700 --> 00:23:37,100 of the newborn, are to say the least, strange qualities for 327 00:23:37,100 --> 00:23:38,600 a savannah-living animal. 328 00:23:40,400 --> 00:23:43,400 There are a number of other aquatic features of our species. 329 00:23:44,100 --> 00:23:47,900 We have an unusually strong diving reflex that slows down 330 00:23:47,900 --> 00:23:51,600 our heartbeat when we put our face underwater. 331 00:23:51,600 --> 00:23:54,000 Like other aquatic mammals, but no other primates, 332 00:23:54,300 --> 00:23:56,300 we have a layer of blubber beneath our skin. 333 00:23:58,400 --> 00:24:01,300 We've lost the long shaggy coat of other primates making 334 00:24:01,300 --> 00:24:03,000 us more streamlined in the water. 335 00:24:03,600 --> 00:24:06,700 We have a unique nose shape that shields our nostrils when 336 00:24:06,700 --> 00:24:08,200 we dive below the surface. 337 00:24:08,400 --> 00:24:11,800 We have more flexible spines than other apes, enabling us to 338 00:24:11,800 --> 00:24:13,100 swim more rapidly. 339 00:24:13,900 --> 00:24:17,300 We have partial webbing between our fingers and toes. 340 00:24:17,500 --> 00:24:22,100 Again, unlike any other primate. We weep copious tears like other 341 00:24:22,100 --> 00:24:26,500 marine animals, but unlike apes. We can swim with great althleticism. 342 00:24:26,700 --> 00:24:30,800 Apes cannot swim at all. And the directions of 343 00:24:30,800 --> 00:24:34,000 our hair tracks differ from those of other apes, 344 00:24:34,000 --> 00:24:37,400 following the flow of the water. Assembled in this way the evidence 345 00:24:37,400 --> 00:24:40,800 for the aquatic origin of our species certainly looks impressive. 346 00:24:43,200 --> 00:24:46,700 If this human baptism took place, it probably occurred here, 347 00:24:47,200 --> 00:24:50,800 on the esturies of the East African coast. One of the effects 348 00:24:50,800 --> 00:24:53,900 of moving into the water for these aquatic apes would have 349 00:24:53,900 --> 00:24:57,200 been to find immediately a wonderfully nutritious source of food. 350 00:24:57,200 --> 00:25:01,300 A new kind of food. A change from the fruits of the forest 351 00:25:01,300 --> 00:25:03,600 to the "fruits de mer". 352 00:25:10,600 --> 00:25:16,800 These small boys in Kenya's rift valley are behaving rather like otters, 353 00:25:16,800 --> 00:25:18,200 catching fish without the aid of any weapons. 354 00:25:19,100 --> 00:25:22,100 They're living today in the very region where the human species evolved. 355 00:25:23,100 --> 00:25:25,800 Could this have been the preferred way of life of 356 00:25:25,800 --> 00:25:28,600 our early ancestors several million years ago? 357 00:25:30,200 --> 00:25:33,200 A switch to an aquatic life style would suddenly have made 358 00:25:33,200 --> 00:25:34,400 available 359 00:25:34,600 --> 00:25:36,800 a high protein diet that would have reduced the amount of time 360 00:25:36,800 --> 00:25:38,700 they had to spend finding food. 361 00:25:41,200 --> 00:25:44,200 This would have given them more opportunities for other activities. 362 00:25:44,200 --> 00:25:47,200 Activities that could have led them to develop important new skills. 363 00:25:50,200 --> 00:25:53,900 The ancient ability to open tough nuts and fruits 364 00:25:54,300 --> 00:25:57,000 would have made them immediately adept at cracking open the 365 00:25:57,000 --> 00:26:03,700 hard shells of a great deal of easily collected seafood. 366 00:26:03,700 --> 00:26:07,000 Marine molluscs and crustaceans would have had no protection from 367 00:26:07,000 --> 00:26:09,100 the attacks of this new type of predator. 368 00:26:11,900 --> 00:26:15,300 They were a plentiful food supply just waiting to be exploited. 369 00:26:16,200 --> 00:26:19,800 Furthermore, a diet of fish and shellfish would have provided 370 00:26:19,800 --> 00:26:23,600 the aquatic apes with an enriched source of the fatty acids 371 00:26:23,700 --> 00:26:26,400 that are important for brain development. 372 00:26:26,500 --> 00:26:34,400 An aquatic ape could easily have become a more brainy ape. These are the amazing 373 00:26:34,400 --> 00:26:38,400 Moreauarmi divers of the Philippines. Each member of a large 374 00:26:38,400 --> 00:26:40,100 team of young male divers 375 00:26:40,300 --> 00:26:43,800 lowers a rock attached to a long line down to the seabed. 376 00:26:44,300 --> 00:26:47,200 Strips of white material scare the fish, and as the lines are 377 00:26:47,200 --> 00:26:50,400 moved along with their rocks repeatedly banging on the reefs below, 378 00:26:50,400 --> 00:26:54,200 they drive all the fish before them into an enormous net. 379 00:26:57,200 --> 00:27:00,300 Once all the fish are in the net, the young divers descend 380 00:27:00,300 --> 00:27:03,900 without any breathing apparatus to a depth of 80 feet, 381 00:27:03,900 --> 00:27:05,900 where they may stay for up to three minutes. 382 00:27:25,200 --> 00:27:28,800 In the earliest days of the human story, cooperative fishing 383 00:27:28,800 --> 00:27:31,600 could easily have been the first step on the road towards 384 00:27:31,600 --> 00:27:35,400 efficient pack hunting and our eventual role as successful 385 00:27:35,400 --> 00:27:36,400 land predators. 386 00:27:54,100 --> 00:27:57,700 The aquatic ape theory of human origins remains unproven 387 00:27:58,100 --> 00:28:01,800 because we still lack the fossil evidence to support it. 388 00:28:01,800 --> 00:28:04,800 But whether we passed through an aquatic phase or not, 389 00:28:04,800 --> 00:28:08,300 one thing is certain, our ancestors did eventually move on to 390 00:28:08,300 --> 00:28:11,700 the Savannah and start to hunt down large prey animals. 391 00:28:12,700 --> 00:28:14,900 This was to become our new way of life 392 00:28:15,200 --> 00:28:18,500 that was to sustain us for over a million years, 393 00:28:18,500 --> 00:28:22,600 right up to the agricultural revolution a mere 10,000 years ago. 394 00:28:22,600 --> 00:28:27,100 And even today in a few remote areas, the primeval hunt continues. 395 00:28:34,100 --> 00:28:37,800 These are caribou, roaming the desolate lands of the far north 396 00:28:37,800 --> 00:28:40,500 of Canada. For native Canadians, 397 00:28:40,700 --> 00:28:44,600 these deer are an essential source of food. 398 00:28:44,700 --> 00:28:47,000 For them, caribou hunting is a matter of survival. 399 00:28:50,800 --> 00:28:54,200 `When the Dogrib people set off on the chase, the outcome 400 00:28:54,200 --> 00:28:57,200 may make the difference between starvation and plenty. 401 00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:04,200 The moment of departure is full of happy anticipation. 402 00:29:04,400 --> 00:29:10,700 Anticipation of feasting to come. The hunt goes through its characteristic stages. 403 00:29:10,700 --> 00:29:15,300 There's the long journey to the hunting grounds. 404 00:29:15,400 --> 00:29:17,200 Then the initial search for the herd. 405 00:29:19,900 --> 00:29:22,900 The first sighting of them in the far distance is reassuring, 406 00:29:23,000 --> 00:29:26,000 but they're in open country where they can't be approached. 407 00:29:30,400 --> 00:29:33,200 Next there's the planning of the 408 00:29:33,200 --> 00:29:34,700 strategy to be adopted. 409 00:29:35,300 --> 00:29:38,700 410 00:29:43,200 --> 00:29:46,100 Now there's more group cooperation as the tactics of the 411 00:29:46,100 --> 00:29:53,900 assault are put into action. The hunt will be extremely physically demanding. 412 00:29:53,900 --> 00:29:59,000 Weapons, as ever, are crucial to the success of the chase. 413 00:30:05,700 --> 00:30:09,200 The women who accompany the hunters do not take an active part in 414 00:30:09,200 --> 00:30:09,900 the kill. 415 00:30:13,000 --> 00:30:16,100 While the men are stalking the herd, they search for berries 416 00:30:16,100 --> 00:30:19,500 in this desolate place, following in the ancient footsteps 417 00:30:19,700 --> 00:30:21,600 of the primeval food gatherers. 418 00:30:25,700 --> 00:30:29,400 Like wolves encircling their prey, the hunters move in close 419 00:30:29,500 --> 00:30:32,200 in wooded territory for a clean kill. 420 00:30:33,900 --> 00:30:34,900 421 00:30:46,400 --> 00:30:50,000 But unlike wolves, their communication is complex, 422 00:30:50,000 --> 00:30:54,700 and their strategy sophisticated. As with all carnivorous hunters, 423 00:30:54,700 --> 00:30:57,600 long distance vision is crucial to their success. 424 00:31:20,500 --> 00:31:23,100 Their weapons may be modern, but the hunting pattern 425 00:31:23,100 --> 00:31:26,900 these men are following is a million years old. On this particular hunt 426 00:31:26,900 --> 00:31:29,400 it took a week to make the kill. 427 00:31:29,900 --> 00:31:33,200 And by this time, the group had been almost without food for three days. 428 00:31:33,200 --> 00:31:37,100 In the bitter cold of the northern landscape 429 00:31:37,200 --> 00:31:38,900 starvation had been staring them in the face. 430 00:31:51,800 --> 00:31:56,000 After the kill, the carcass is cut up and prepared 431 00:31:56,000 --> 00:31:57,700 ready to be carried back to the community. 432 00:32:11,900 --> 00:32:16,000 The intense relief that is felt when the feast finally comes 433 00:32:16,400 --> 00:32:19,800 is something that is difficult to appreciate for those who've never 434 00:32:19,800 --> 00:32:24,100 experienced this ancient, uncertain form of human food seeking. 435 00:32:27,700 --> 00:32:31,700 It's easy to understand why 10,000 years ago we started to give up 436 00:32:31,700 --> 00:32:35,000 this way of life and turned instead to the security and 437 00:32:35,000 --> 00:32:39,000 the predictability of farming. Of controlling the wild animals 438 00:32:39,200 --> 00:32:41,800 and making certain that they were always around to provide 439 00:32:41,800 --> 00:32:47,800 us with guaranteed regular meals. But it has to be admitted, 440 00:32:47,900 --> 00:32:50,500 there was something bravely hazardous about the hunt. 441 00:32:51,300 --> 00:32:54,100 With the advent of agriculture, the drama of the chase was lost. 442 00:32:54,100 --> 00:32:58,000 Only the Dogrib and a few other remote hunting societies 443 00:32:58,000 --> 00:33:01,500 remain to remind us of the earlier way of life. 444 00:33:10,000 --> 00:33:13,300 For most of us today the rigours of the hunt, its uncertainties 445 00:33:13,300 --> 00:33:18,400 and dangers, are a thing of the past. Nowadays, all we have to face 446 00:33:18,400 --> 00:33:20,800 is a trip to the local supermarket. 447 00:33:21,000 --> 00:33:23,900 So what happened to our inborn hunting urges? Where did they go 448 00:33:23,900 --> 00:33:24,300 449 00:33:24,300 --> 00:33:28,100 in the modern world? The primeval act of setting off 450 00:33:28,300 --> 00:33:29,800 on the hunt has acquired a new name. 451 00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:34,700 Now we call it going to work. Modern hunters leave their home base, 452 00:33:34,700 --> 00:33:38,100 not on a chase for large prey animals, 453 00:33:38,100 --> 00:33:39,600 but in pursuit of contracts, deals and sales. 454 00:33:39,800 --> 00:33:43,200 They'll make a killing in the city and bring home the bacon 455 00:33:43,200 --> 00:33:46,500 without ever setting eyes on wild game. 456 00:33:48,000 --> 00:33:51,500 Each occupation has its own special kind of substitute hunting elements. 457 00:33:51,500 --> 00:33:55,400 For some, it's the comradeship of fellow hunters. 458 00:33:55,400 --> 00:33:59,000 For a few, there remains the frison of actual physical danger. 459 00:33:59,300 --> 00:34:02,000 This was a key element in the original hunt. 460 00:34:02,100 --> 00:34:05,700 But with modern substitute hunts, it's now comparatively rare. 461 00:34:05,900 --> 00:34:07,100 For some individuals though, 462 00:34:07,400 --> 00:34:09,190 this danger element is crucial. 463 00:34:09,300 --> 00:34:12,500 They need the adrenaline boost that accompanied every dangerous 464 00:34:12,500 --> 00:34:13,500 hunting trip. 465 00:34:21,400 --> 00:34:24,690 For most, the risks have now become purely financial. 466 00:34:25,190 --> 00:34:28,900 These are the typical hunters of modern times, who have retained 467 00:34:28,900 --> 00:34:31,900 the strategies and tactics, the planning and the plotting 468 00:34:32,100 --> 00:34:35,600 of the old hunting lifestyle, but in a completely transformed state. 469 00:34:43,600 --> 00:34:48,500 For some the pseudo hunt is a stalking, prowling affair 470 00:34:48,600 --> 00:34:51,600 with the emphasis on the symbolic kill at the end. 471 00:34:52,100 --> 00:34:55,100 The average traffic warden has the immense satisfaction of 472 00:34:55,100 --> 00:35:00,000 making many kills every day, with from time to time the added excitement 473 00:35:00,000 --> 00:35:04,700 of a little spirited, but futile resistance from 474 00:35:04,700 --> 00:35:05,900 a squirming prey. 475 00:35:08,800 --> 00:35:16,500 476 00:35:17,700 --> 00:35:18,900 477 00:35:32,500 --> 00:35:35,600 Each to their own kind of hunt. Each to their own type of chase, 478 00:35:36,600 --> 00:35:38,900 and each to their own form of kill. 479 00:35:39,200 --> 00:35:41,600 The modern pseudo hunters are everywhere. 480 00:35:47,000 --> 00:35:50,500 At the end of the hunt, when the worker returns home, the spoils 481 00:35:50,500 --> 00:35:58,100 of the chase, inside the pay packet are handed over. 482 00:35:58,100 --> 00:36:01,100 Those who are most engrossed in their work, and find it particularly satisfying 483 00:36:01,100 --> 00:36:04,500 are the ones whose activities contain most of 484 00:36:04,500 --> 00:36:06,500 the old hunting habits. 485 00:36:06,900 --> 00:36:09,700 For them, the symbolic hunt retains almost all its original excitement. 486 00:36:13,100 --> 00:36:16,600 For some, the symbolism is very obvious, with a specific and 487 00:36:16,600 --> 00:36:20,800 visible prey to be pursued. A Police chase brings out 488 00:36:20,800 --> 00:36:22,000 all the old hunting skills. 489 00:36:45,600 --> 00:36:48,600 490 00:36:48,600 --> 00:36:50,400 491 00:36:54,500 --> 00:36:56,900 492 00:36:56,900 --> 00:37:01,700 493 00:37:01,700 --> 00:37:02,100 494 00:37:04,100 --> 00:37:05,900 Almost all the elements are still there. 495 00:37:05,900 --> 00:37:09,200 The strategies and the tactics, the cooperation and organization. 496 00:37:09,200 --> 00:37:13,400 The concentration and the risk. The arduous pursuit 497 00:37:13,400 --> 00:37:15,400 and finally the climax of the kill. 498 00:37:32,600 --> 00:37:34,000 499 00:37:34,000 --> 00:37:37,700 A few people seem unable to make the symbolic 500 00:37:37,700 --> 00:37:42,200 leap away from the primeval hunt to one of its modern substitutes. 501 00:37:42,700 --> 00:37:44,000 Trapped in the past, 502 00:37:44,000 --> 00:37:47,400 they feel the urge to continue needlessly to gun down 503 00:37:47,400 --> 00:37:48,900 wild animals for sport. 504 00:37:50,300 --> 00:37:53,800 These hunters are not starving and their prey are not dangerous. 505 00:37:54,200 --> 00:37:57,700 The animals have been specially reared on game ranches 506 00:37:57,700 --> 00:38:00,800 so that they can be shot at by sporting gentlemen who don't 507 00:38:00,800 --> 00:38:03,600 wish to suffer any undue discomfort in the process. 508 00:38:10,200 --> 00:38:10,700 Thank you. 509 00:38:12,100 --> 00:38:13,100 That's a long shot. 510 00:38:13,100 --> 00:38:14,600 I'm glad I put two shells in there. 511 00:38:14,600 --> 00:38:18,500 I was thinking about only putting one. It was a good shot. 512 00:38:18,500 --> 00:38:22,000 Killing these animals with high-powered weapons is about as courageous 513 00:38:22,000 --> 00:38:25,900 as shooting at a cow in a field. But sport hunting which has 514 00:38:25,900 --> 00:38:29,100 been going on ever since the primeval hunt became obsolete 515 00:38:29,500 --> 00:38:31,300 still manages to survive, 516 00:38:31,300 --> 00:38:34,900 so deeply ingrained is the predatory past of our species. 517 00:38:35,100 --> 00:38:37,900 518 00:38:38,100 --> 00:38:39,500 519 00:38:40,000 --> 00:38:40,700 520 00:38:47,500 --> 00:38:48,500 For most people today however, 521 00:38:48,500 --> 00:38:52,700 the idea of killing animals for fun is repugnant. 522 00:38:59,000 --> 00:39:02,300 Instead. when their hunting urges drive a man 523 00:39:02,300 --> 00:39:04,800 to track down a wild beast and take a shot at it, 524 00:39:05,300 --> 00:39:08,900 the loudest noise you hear is the click of a camera. 525 00:39:14,500 --> 00:39:18,300 These shots are all on target, but no blood is spilled. 526 00:39:18,300 --> 00:39:20,900 And the excitement of taking home the pictures of these animals 527 00:39:21,200 --> 00:39:24,500 provides a symbolic trophy more in keeping 528 00:39:24,500 --> 00:39:28,100 with the modern environment in which these symbolic hunters live today. 529 00:39:35,800 --> 00:39:38,700 All over the world, the symbolic hunters are out stalking 530 00:39:38,700 --> 00:39:41,200 their prey. And because they are symbolic, 531 00:39:41,500 --> 00:39:45,900 the prey can take some rather odd forms. As collectors, people 532 00:39:45,900 --> 00:39:48,700 seem prepared to hunt down and carry almost anything. 533 00:39:48,800 --> 00:39:54,600 Sometimes, at enormous cost. For some collectors simply finding 534 00:39:54,600 --> 00:39:56,500 the prey is sufficient reward. 535 00:40:01,800 --> 00:40:05,800 For these trainspotters, the prey animal becomes the giant locomotive that glides into 536 00:40:05,800 --> 00:40:09,400 their sight, giving them the hunter's thrill of discovery. 537 00:40:09,400 --> 00:40:10,200 Like real prey, 538 00:40:10,400 --> 00:40:13,900 each railway engine is beyond their control. Only by being 539 00:40:13,900 --> 00:40:15,800 in the right place, at the right moment, 540 00:40:15,900 --> 00:40:19,100 can they add another exciting specimen to their list of symbolic kills. 541 00:40:19,100 --> 00:40:23,200 They can't eat these trains, but they can at least 542 00:40:23,300 --> 00:40:25,500 feast their eyes on them. 543 00:40:30,500 --> 00:40:34,600 Wherever today's pseudo hunters gather in small groups 544 00:40:35,000 --> 00:40:38,000 there's a strong chance that some kind of symbolic prey 545 00:40:38,000 --> 00:40:41,800 will be struck down. The nature of the prey can be reduced to the 546 00:40:41,800 --> 00:40:46,300 simplest possible form. In this case, a wooden skittle. 547 00:40:46,900 --> 00:40:50,200 It's virtually impossible to simplify the symbolic hunt further 548 00:40:50,200 --> 00:40:54,200 than this, but the excitement is still there. The human animal 549 00:40:54,400 --> 00:40:58,400 can make a hunt out of almost anything, and celebrate accordingly. 550 00:41:04,200 --> 00:41:05,800 For many people, 551 00:41:05,800 --> 00:41:08,600 the workplace is somewhat lacking in the more exciting elements 552 00:41:08,600 --> 00:41:13,200 of the substitute hunt. For them, special events outside 553 00:41:13,200 --> 00:41:17,100 the working context are necessary to recreate the drama of the chase. 554 00:41:17,100 --> 00:41:21,400 A solution for many millions is professional sport. 555 00:41:22,800 --> 00:41:26,200 Here on the football field, almost all the stages of the primeval 556 00:41:26,200 --> 00:41:28,500 hunt are displayed for the spectators. 557 00:41:30,400 --> 00:41:32,000 There are the team tactics. 558 00:41:36,100 --> 00:41:41,900 The group cooperation. The long-distance communication. 559 00:41:46,900 --> 00:41:51,500 The physical risks, the skills, the stamina and the bravery. The stalking, 560 00:41:51,500 --> 00:41:52,900 the cunning of the chase. 561 00:41:56,500 --> 00:41:59,400 At last there's a moment of the kill as the tribal weapon 562 00:41:59,400 --> 00:42:01,600 is driven into the mouth of the prey. 563 00:42:07,500 --> 00:42:11,500 This act of aiming is common to most forms of modern sport. 564 00:42:21,400 --> 00:42:24,800 With victory in sport, as with victory in the hunt, there follows 565 00:42:25,000 --> 00:42:29,000 triumphant celebration. A moment of euphoria shared by all. 566 00:42:31,700 --> 00:42:35,100 Sometimes the intensity of the moment becomes too great. 567 00:42:35,100 --> 00:42:38,200 The passions of the primeval hunter have been so aroused that 568 00:42:38,200 --> 00:42:41,300 the symbolism is lost, and the violence of the hunt itself 569 00:42:41,300 --> 00:42:42,900 is once again unleashed. 570 00:42:54,000 --> 00:42:57,200 When a human being becomes the new prey 571 00:42:57,200 --> 00:43:00,400 and the hunting pack turns on one of its own kind, the savagery of the mob 572 00:43:00,400 --> 00:43:04,700 knows no bounds. For the lynch mob, the victim becomes effectively 573 00:43:04,800 --> 00:43:08,100 a member of another species. A prey to be destroyed. 574 00:43:09,700 --> 00:43:11,700 This is not normal human aggression. 575 00:43:12,100 --> 00:43:15,800 This is a corrupted hunting pack on the prowl, looking for a kill. 576 00:43:15,800 --> 00:43:17,400 In this case, 577 00:43:17,800 --> 00:43:19,100 the victim was rescued. 578 00:43:23,700 --> 00:43:27,400 Those who argue, through wishful thinking, that the human animal 579 00:43:27,400 --> 00:43:31,300 is essentially placid and docile, is making a dangerous error. 580 00:43:32,300 --> 00:43:35,100 They need look no further than the seemingly innocent games 581 00:43:35,100 --> 00:43:38,200 of children to see the way the human mind works. 582 00:43:38,700 --> 00:43:41,900 We're hunters through and through, always chasing something. 583 00:43:41,900 --> 00:43:46,200 Always in pursuit of some goal, whether abstract or real. 584 00:43:46,200 --> 00:43:50,100 This human quality, this urge to meet a challenge, to take a risk, 585 00:43:50,100 --> 00:43:54,800 to track down a solution, is one of our greatest attributes. 586 00:43:54,800 --> 00:43:58,200 To say that man is a hunter is not to say that man must be violent. 587 00:43:58,200 --> 00:43:59,000 Far from it. 588 00:43:59,300 --> 00:44:01,600 All it says is that he's not docile. 589 00:44:01,600 --> 00:44:06,100 We're by nature go-getters, but what we get is up to us. 590 00:44:14,100 --> 00:44:17,600 All too often, the games of childhood become corrupted 591 00:44:17,600 --> 00:44:21,800 into the war games of adult life. Instead of using our hunting 592 00:44:21,800 --> 00:44:24,300 urges to chase wonderful ideals. 593 00:44:24,500 --> 00:44:28,600 We use them to pursue a new kind of prey. Human prey. 594 00:44:31,100 --> 00:44:33,100 The hunting urge is a double-edged sword. 595 00:44:33,100 --> 00:44:36,300 It can be used constructively to help us fulfill our greatest dreams, 596 00:44:36,300 --> 00:44:40,900 or destructively to live out our greatest nightmares. 597 00:44:45,300 --> 00:44:47,800 598 00:44:47,800 --> 00:44:48,800 599 00:44:52,600 --> 00:44:55,800 When the hunt became symbolic, it retained 600 00:44:55,800 --> 00:44:58,200 its power, but lost its direction. 601 00:44:58,800 --> 00:45:02,400 It's now up to us, to our intelligence, not our instincts. 602 00:45:02,400 --> 00:45:06,300 to determine that direction. And it's a dark day whenever we fail. 603 00:45:27,300 --> 00:45:31,300 In modern warfare, the combination of the ancient hunting urge 604 00:45:31,300 --> 00:45:35,200 and modern technology has been deadly. Because the new 605 00:45:35,200 --> 00:45:37,500 weapons act at a greater and greater distance, 606 00:45:37,500 --> 00:45:41,400 the enemy is no longer identifiable as a rival human being, 607 00:45:41,400 --> 00:45:45,600 but a tiny speck in the distance. There's no personal involvement. 608 00:45:45,600 --> 00:45:50,000 The enemy soldiers are not people. They're prey. 609 00:45:50,000 --> 00:45:52,300 If only hunting hadn't made us such a cooperative species, 610 00:45:52,600 --> 00:45:55,500 it would be impossible for tyrants to form armies and set 611 00:45:55,500 --> 00:45:59,400 them off on campaigns of mass destruction. Warfare is the 612 00:45:59,400 --> 00:46:02,400 darkest face of the human urge to hunt. 613 00:46:07,300 --> 00:46:10,300 This all seems light years away from the quiet life 614 00:46:10,300 --> 00:46:14,700 we left behind in the primeval forests. When we gave up the 615 00:46:14,900 --> 00:46:18,600 simple fruit picking existence and set ourselves the challenge 616 00:46:18,600 --> 00:46:22,800 of a new way of obtaining our food by using tools and weapons, 617 00:46:23,500 --> 00:46:26,300 we could never have guessed that far off in the future, 618 00:46:26,700 --> 00:46:29,900 we'd be giving ourselves the possibility 619 00:46:29,900 --> 00:46:33,200 of both a technological heaven, and a technological hell on Earth. 620 00:46:35,300 --> 00:46:38,300 Which of these two comes to dominate our lives in the future 621 00:46:38,600 --> 00:46:41,100 remains the greatest of all human dilemmas. 622 00:46:47,300 --> 00:46:51,000 And it's amazing to think that this whole story all began 623 00:46:51,200 --> 00:46:54,900 with a small change in our diet millions of years ago. 624 00:47:01,200 --> 00:47:04,700 One thing is certain. When our ancient ancestors had passed 625 00:47:04,700 --> 00:47:07,400 through the early phase of their evolution and had become 626 00:47:07,400 --> 00:47:11,500 fully fledged hunters, their social way of life had to change. 627 00:47:11,600 --> 00:47:13,100 When the males went off on the hunt, 628 00:47:13,300 --> 00:47:15,900 they had to have somewhere to come back to with the spoils. 629 00:47:16,200 --> 00:47:19,700 They had to have a home base. A fixed home base. That meant 630 00:47:19,700 --> 00:47:23,000 settlements and dwellings. And the way in which those early 631 00:47:23,000 --> 00:47:26,600 dwellings grew and flourished and developed into our modern 632 00:47:26,600 --> 00:47:29,500 megacities, is the subject of next week's program. 57100

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