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Lucy Cooke: Where Females Call the Shots

Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda

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The Unexpected Dominance of Primates

For decades the model for human ancestry was chimpanzees and you've got males are patriarchal, they're aggressive. But there is another equally close relative of ours that's been less studied until recently which is the bonobo. We share exactly the same amount of DNA. They are a society where females are also smaller than males so you'd expect them to be dominated by them. The females are actually dominant to males. It definitely shows the power of the sisterhood. Do you know what I mean? And that it's a beacon of hope for those that want to feel that equality is possible because the bonobos have found a way.

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