Summary of the movie (Star Tribune): Species collide once again in “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.” The movie takes place 10 years after a virus wiped out most of the human race and chimpanzees took over the planet.

The 142-minute film is a sequel to the 2011 movie “Rise of the Apes.” That film starred James Franco, who played Will Rodman, a scientist testing a viral-based drug on chimpanzees in the hope of curing Alzheimer’s disease. The experiment went wildly wrong, resulting in a genetically-altered and highly intelligent chimpanzee named Caesar. Caesar, played by Andy Serkis, lead an ape rebellion on Earth. In the meantime, the virus wiped out much of the human race.

“Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” follows a decade later. Caesar has established a Utopian kingdom of apes, but faces new challenges in his renewed interaction with humans. Some of humans who survived the virus live in a small colony in San Fransisco. Some struggle to adjust to the new circumstances as they try to maintain normal lives for their families and rebuild their community..They reach a fragile peace, but it proves short-lived, as both sides are brought to the brink of a war that will determine who will emerge as Earth’s dominant species.

The movie stars:Andy Serkis, Gary Oldman, Jason Clarke, Judy Greer, Keri Russell, KodiSmit-McPhee/ Director:Matt Reeves /Genre(s): Action, Sci-Fi, Drama, Thriller/Rating:PG-13

Extra Credit Assignment Guidelines:

You will be required to write an essay about the movie and how the content relates to this class. In the first section of the course you learned about evolution, evolutionary theory, and genetics. In the second section of the course, you will be learning about primates, particularly apes. You will learn about their social structure, taxonomy, physical traits, derived traits, mating strategies and conservation status and current conservation strategies. In the third section, you will be learning about hominid evolution, human variation and biological adaptations. You MUST use biological terms in your 1-page typed essay and underline the terms (i.e. natural selection, evolution, mutation, genes, DNA, selection, reproductive advantage, common ancestor, species, sub-speciesextant, extinct, primates, reproductive strategies, empathy, compassion, aggressive, dominance hierarchy, political leader, male alliances, male patrols, mother-infant love, con-specifics, K-selected, immunity, dominant inheritance, recessive inheritance, bipedalism, interbreeding, inbreeding, genomes, mtDNA studies and findings, biological adaptations, etc.)

1. Provide a short synopsis of the premise of the Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. (Approximately one paragraph – single-spaced)

2. Address the following questions: (double-space) (Body of essay)

• Is chimpanzee behavior correctly depicted? – explain. Provide “3” behaviors observed naturally in the wild.

• Is chimpanzee behavior incorrectly depicted? – explain. Provide “3” behaviors observed in the movie that are notnaturally observed in the wild.

• How is it possible for some humans to survive the virus? How is it possible that chimpanzees are able to not develop the virus, move upright, talk, etc.?

3. Do you think it is possible for chimpanzees (or other animals/or robots!) to take over humans in the future? Explain. (Conclusion)

Essay Layout:

In header, (left) a creative title; right your name, first and last

Use “10” Roman Times font, .5 inch margins, top and bottom (sides justified) (Your essay MUST be a minimum of 1 page, but no more than 1.5 pages)

[This WORD document has .5 margins, top and bottom]