Last night saw the first of this three-part series on primates, narrated by Chris Packham. The images were stunningly good showing the habitats occupied, whether a flooded Amazon rainforest, Madagascar or the temples of Kathmandu.
But my favourite sequences were of Drills (similar to, but different from, Mandrills) from the tropical island of Bioko (formerly known as Fernando Po), off the coast of Cameroon (but part of Equatorial Guinea). Large male Drills are impressive beasts but it was the story of two males in this sequence that caught my attention.
And there were lots of stories involving tool use, tenderness, attacks from large cats, theft and bargaining and nastiness to squirrels.
The ‘turning the other cheek’ award goes to the Giant Malabar Squirrel – I knew nothing of this giant Indian squirrel but they almost stole the show from the primates, as did the enormous fruit of the Jackfruit.
The sequences of Mountain Gorillas were amazing in showing quite how ugly silver-backed males are – impressive but very ugly. But looks aren’t everything as the sequence showed.
I almost didn’t watch this programme as I thought I wasn’t so interested in primates – but it was stunning. Having gone back to iPlayer to check a few facts for this short blog piece I have watched almost all of the programme again, with pleasure. I’m hooked and am looking forward to the next two episodes.
This Q&A with Chris Packham is worth a read.
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I too nearly didn’t watch it but am very glad I did. Some wonderful sequences and yes those squirrels were nearly the unintentional stars. I will certainly be watching episodes two and three.
Loved it and I will definitely be watching the next 2 episodes.