Nature

One family...

...countless faces.

Monkeys...

...apes...

...lemurs.

They've conquered the world...

working together.

Every triumph is shared...

and every drama, too.

Family is everything...

...for the primates.

The forests of Southeast Asia

are home to world-class animal acrobats.

These are lar gibbons.

Each small family defends a huge territory.

They must cover big distances quickly.

So gibbons move like nothing else on Earth.

They brachiate...

swinging from branch to branch,

and it's this technique that gives them their speed.

Gibbons' arms are twice as long as their legs.

So their bodies act as a pendulum,

with enough momentum to clear a gap of over 30 feet.

But with a 100-foot drop below, every leap takes nerve.

Confidence like this must be learned.

This youngster is just 10 months old --

by gibbon standards, a toddler.

She was born with all the tools she needs for the high life...

...but learning how to use them takes practice.

Trial and error like this is risky.

Few gibbons escape without broken bones.

But lessons are shared.

Gibbons, like all primates, learn...

...from one another.

From family, friends...

playmates.

Play is the best form of practice,

and the more they play, the faster their skills develop.

Young primates stand the best chance in life

in the security of a family.

Across the world, family power

has been the key to primates' success.

From snowcapped mountains...

...to dusty backstreets...

...uncharted jungles...

...and the open savanna...

...social living has been the making of primates.

But it's not to say that family life

is without its challenges.

Exhausting, even.

In Malaysia, these dozing dusky leaf monkeys

are a close-knit family group.

One dominant male oversees

eight females...

and their young.

Lots of them.

One female is keeping her distance.

But she's not hiding.

She's just given birth...

...to an infant that really stands out.

Mom must never lose sight of the baby,

and that's why he's been born with a color she can't miss.

And there are others

who find his bright orange fur equally eye-catching --

his aunts and cousins.

They all want to cuddle with the newborn.

Here, the babysitting becomes strangely competitive.

It might seem a bit rough on the baby,

but his mother is tolerant.

It all helps to establish the troop's bond with the newborn,

making it all the more likely they'll protect him.

That's just as well, because in the jungle,

you're never far from danger.

An alarm call.

It's a python.

Mom quickly locates her orange infant...

and he's soon safe in her arms.

But the troop isn't finished.

As long as the snake remains in their territory,

it's a threat, especially to the youngest.

That's one snake that won't...

stick around.

Putting up with your family takes patience...

but you can rely on them when it really matters.

Dawn in the Amazon basin.

These white-cheeked spider monkeys...

are canopy specialists.

They almost never leave the treetops.

They have everything they need up here.

Almost everything.

Families share their knowledge.

This female elder knows exactly where to go.

Only a spider monkey can reach

every opportunity this jungle offers.

And that's thanks to an extra limb.

A tail.

It's as strong as an arm, but a lot more flexible.

Their many-limbed, spidery appearance

gives them their name...

...and grants them access to the most unexpected places.

This tributary of the Amazon is in flood,

bursting at the seams.

The currents are strong enough to uproot trees

and wash away any who stray too close.

But they also bring opportunity.

Aquatic plants -- a feast

quite unlike anything to be found in the canopy.

Now her tail is a safety rope.

It's flexible and can support all her weight.

It even seems to have a mind of its own.

And it has a pattern of grooves for grip,

like the palm of a hand.

It's thought the extra nutrients in these plants

make it worth the risk.

And this elder female has led the way.

Her troop has followed...

...to benefit from her experience and wisdom.

Soon, everyone is munching away.

Here, family knowledge is shared, remembered,

and even passed on between the generations.

Primate groups come in all shapes and sizes...

...and for all sorts of reasons.

Here, on Ethiopia's open Highlands,

geladas form herds -- the biggest groups of all --

because where there's nowhere to hide,

there's safety in numbers.

On the edge of the world's largest desert...

...Hamadryas baboons band together

to defend scant resources from rivals.

When two groups clash,

it pays to have numbers on your side.

But in the dry Chaco forest of Argentina...

...a rarely seen primate does things differently.

Owl monkeys live with just their nuclear family --

parents and kids.

And uniquely, for a monkey, they're usually active at night.

But on cold winter days,

they adjust their schedule for some time in the sun...

...feasting on the blooms of the lapacho tree.

By primate standards, this is a peaceful existence.

And that's because Mom and Dad

are one of the most faithful pairs in nature.

They stick together

because their rarest resource is each other.

And the kids stick around, too,

on hand to assist their parents with raising the youngest.

Owl monkeys are unusual.

But even more rare is a primate who prefers to go it alone.

As night falls in Sri Lanka...

a solitary, rarely seen creature is stirring.

This pint-sized primate

that would fit in the palm of your hand

is a gray slender loris.

Active only at night, a loris is wide-eyed and stealthy...

even when she's just hunting fruit.

A solitary life should mean she doesn't have to share.

But there are challenges, too.

This loris is a single mother.

She has twins who, unfortunately,

are just too big to bring along.

So the youngsters are parked in dense vegetation,

where they're expected to sit tight

and wait for her return.

But tonight one of the infants is not where she left him.

This little loris has slipped from his roost,

and now he's in trouble.

At only five weeks old,

he's little bigger than a golf ball.

But already, he's well-equipped.

He's one of few primates with night vision,

thanks to a special, reflective layer of cells,

the tapetum, in his oversized eyes.

While most young primates take months, or even years,

to fully find their feet,

this baby loris already climbs with confidence.

And he was born with a vise-like grip.

His Mother can hear him.

Reunited at last.

A loris must grow up fast.

Its childhood is one of the shortest of any primate.

In less than four months' time,

he and his twin will strike out alone.

But even then, Mom won't abandon them.

She will let them share her territory,