I aim to uncover evolutionary bases for how and why social relationships shape human life. To do so I conduct long-term field research on our closest living relatives, chimpanzees and bonobos, in both Uganda and Democratic Republic of Congo. I follow known individual apes over the course of their long and complex lives, focusing on the social changes and challenges of adolescence. One goal of this work is to understand how chimpanzee and bonobo behavior can inform healthy patterns of emotional learning and development in our own species.