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The stereotypes of gorillas as fierce and chimpanzees as entertaining allowed people to mistreat these apes until the pioneering work of Jane Goodall and the late Dian Fossey changed all that, according to this 56-minute PBS documentary. Viewers are in for the treat of actual footage of the two women spying on and, later, interacting with their subjects. Footage of tea plantation owner and amateur animal behaviorist Adrian De Shriver in a rare confrontation with a silverback male gorilla is also included. Narrator Lynn Sherr (of the TV newsmagazine
20/20) recounts the details of the primates' daily lives and presents a frighteningly long list of the dangers facing them from poaching and snares meant for other game to violence from war and building encroaching on living areas.
--Kimberly Heinrichs
Product Description
Great Apes explores mankind's relationship with the African "great apes," the gorillas and chimpanzees, from the conservation success stories such as Gombe Streams National Park to the tragedy of Rwanda and its diminished population of mountain gorillas. This one-hour program combines rare archival footage and behavioral sequences to create an in-depth portrait of the current status of these remarkable and endangered animals.
