Meet Your Cousins: The Lemurs, Monkeys and Apes (Two Parts)

Primates are a group of mammals that include apes, monkeys, lemurs and humans. Apes, monkeys and lemurs share 96 to 99 percent of our DNA and are in danger of extinction. In this course, we take a virtual tour to Madagascar and Southeast Asia to meet the lovable lemurs; then on to Africa, Asia and South America to meet old- and new-world monkeys — the baboons of South Africa’s Cape Peninsula, the langurs of India’s Gir Forest, and the pygmy marmosets of the Amazon. We also explore the habitats of the lesser apes and the great apes — the swinging (and screaming) gibbons, the docile orangutans and gorillas, the brainy chimpanzees and the “make love, not war" bonobos.

Sharon Boorstin is a contributing writer for the Los Angeles Times, specializing in lifestyle, food and travel. In 2019 she won Visit California’s Eureka Award for Best Newspaper Travel Article. In the ‘90s she edited the annual Gayot Guidebooks for Los Angeles and other cities. Raised in Seattle, Washington, Boorstin moved to Los Angeles in 1966 after earning a California Lifetime Teaching credential at UC Berkeley.

The Fifty and Better (FAB) program was designed for people 50 and older seeking intellectual stimulation through university level courses (without the pressure of grades) for the sake of learning and social engagement.

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