The Perfect Runner

Wild Films ~ The Perfect Runner

Tuesday, July 30, 2019 - 7:00pm to 8:00pm
  • Library Hall
A film about human evolution and how we became the "running ape"... plus a bonus short about orangutans, Person of the Forest

How did our ancestors survive the shift from trees to land, and evolve to dominate the planet? The answer lies in a remarkable ability we evolved far earlier than our powerful brains: humans are nature’s perfect endurance runners. Gemini-winning anthropologist Niobe Thompson takes a journey of personal discovery back in evolutionary time, in conversation with leading evolutionary biologists and immersed in cultures whose survival still depends on endurance running. From the highlands of Ethiopia, to the most remote place in Arctic Siberia, to the world's toughest ultramarathon in the Canadian Rockies, The Perfect Runner weaves cutting-edge science with gripping adventure, and leaves the viewer with a new and inspiring understanding of our common evolutionary inheritance as the running ape. Run time: 49 minutes

BONUS SHORT! Person of the Forest by Melissa Lesh & Tim Laman
In the vanishing lowland rainforests of Borneo, research is underway to uncover and understand the unique cultural behaviors in wild orangutans. There, photographer Tim Laman, researcher Cheryl Knott, and young explorer Robert Suro shed new light on the similarities between ourselves and our ancient ancestors, before it’s too late.  Run time: 17 minutes

Run Time: 

47 minutes

About Wild Films at the Library

Wild Films at the Library is a free series of award-winning international wildlife films selected from the International Wildlife Film Festival. The International Wildlife Film Festival was established in 1977 in Missoula, Montana with a mission to promote awareness, knowledge and understanding of wildlife, habitat, people and nature through excellence in film, television and other media.