Planet Of The Killer Apes

In Apartheid-era South Africa, a scientist uncovered a cracked, proto-human jawbone. That humble fossil would go on to inspire one of the most blood-spattered theories in all of paleontology: the “Killer Ape” theory. According to the Killer Ape theory, humans are killers—unique among the apes for our capacity for bloodthirsty murder and violence. And at a particularly violent moment in U.S. history, the idea stuck! It even made its way into one of the most iconic scenes in film history. Until a female chimp named Passion showed the world that we might not be so special after all.

You can listen to Planet Of The Killer Apes online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Planet Of The Killer Apes is an episode from Undiscovered by Science Friday and WNYC Studios.

This episode is 00:23:55 long.

This episode was published on Nov 27, 2019.

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