The Highwire Risks Taken by These Young Gibbons Are Terrifying  Animals at Play   Smithsonian - video Dailymotion

Watch The Highwire Risks Taken by These Young Gibbons Are Terrifying  Animals at Play   Smithsonian - Hadeer cA TV on Dailymotion

Transcript

00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:03 High in the jungle canopy of Thailand,

00:06 a young gibbon holds on to his mother.

00:08 He's just eight months old.

00:11 Since birth, he's spent his life gripping tightly to his mother.

00:16 But he's growing bigger every day.

00:18 It's time he learned to brachiate by himself.

00:21 The only way he's going to learn is

00:28 through some particularly risky gym work.

00:31 First, just one-handed swinging.

00:39 But soon, he gets the hang of the monkey bars.

00:47 Through short, intense bursts of activity,

00:54 young gibbons can spend up to 20% of their waking hours

01:00 catapulting themselves between flimsy branches

01:02 high in the canopy.

01:03 These aerial acrobatics are surely

01:16 among the most extreme and hazardous forms of play

01:19 in the animal kingdom.

01:20 But young gibbons have a hair-raising twist

01:25 to these already dangerous games.

01:27 Scientists think they intentionally

01:33 fall by momentarily relaxing their limbs.

01:36 These high-risk games might seem deadly,

01:42 but they serve an important purpose.

01:49 One of the leading theories for play

01:51 is that play trains you for the unexpected.

01:53 This is when an animal, through its play behavior,

01:56 can encounter novel situations that it didn't expect,

01:59 and more importantly, learn how to overcome them.

02:01 A gibbon's world is unpredictable.

02:11 Branches can give way to any kind of threat.

02:18 Branches can give way at any moment.

02:20 So even though this perilous play comes with great risks,

02:31 it trains them how to react.

02:32 Should they fall for real?

02:36 In the treetops, play could be a lifesaver.

02:46 [MUSIC PLAYING]

02:49 (upbeat music)

02:51 [MUSIC PLAYING]